Perhaps after
"I don't know what they're called – they hide behind various dummy companies – but I know what they're doing. They target people that match a specific genetic template, and kidnap them when they're just kids. Then they subject them to the most punishing, dehumanising training imaginable. By the end of it, the subject is barely even human. Their compassion and empathy have been completely hammered out of them. All that's left is the desire to cook. They call these creations...the Master Chefs."
And
"There's a secret training facility at Weber Gateway – I managed to sneak in through an air vent. In one room I saw a bunch of slaves chopping vegetables, blindfolded, while a deafening alarm went off. If the slaves dropped below a certain rate of efficiency or precision, they were given an electric shock. In another room they were navigating an assault course while making a soufflé. At least I think it was a soufflé – I'm not an expert. I've never seen anything like it."
They can pass them off as Vat Grown or something non human and thus not Slaves
Unless people investigated the kidnapping and reprogramming, no one might care, if the credits are flowing.
Just as the ISA notes that authorities turn a blind eye to breeches of Imperial Slave law, corruption is just as rampant in the Federation
The Galnet news articles suggest that their existence is dismissed as rumour, probably unknown to the general populace and just for the rich elite who are beyond the law.
