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Chris Rock And Ex-Wife Are Reportedly Facing “Child Trafficking” Charges For South African Girl

Chris Rock and his ex-wife are reportedly facing “child trafficking” charges as South African police investigate how a girl from the country was apparently raised by the Rocks in the U.S. for seven years.

The nation’s elite Hawk unit has gotten involved in the bizarre custodial case of young Ntombi-futhi Samantha, who was brought to New Jersey by Rock and his estranged wife Malaak Compton-Rock on a tourist visa in November 2008, the Daily Mail reports.

The child began living in the Rocks’ $3 million Alpine, N.J. home when she was 9 months old. She joined the Rocks on family vacations, red carpet premieres and NBA games, and attended school in New Jersey for years, even though there is no record that she was ever adopted.

The Rocks’ divorce, which began last year, has put the now-7-year-old girl’s legal status under scrutiny.

A member of the Hawks team, which covers South Africa’s most high-profile crimes, told the Mail that the case had come up after the Department of Home Affairs began its own probe.

“It sounded like a strange case and it has been flagged up to us. We are awaiting more details (about) how this came about,” the detective said.

“Whatever arrangement there was between the Rocks and the parents of the child, laws are in place to prevent parents from allowing their children to travel overseas indefinitely with third parties,” he added. “It seems there has not been regular contact with the biological parents, and if money changed hands, or even gifts in return for the child staying with other people overseas, it sounds very much like child trafficking.”

Ntombi’s biological parents are South African Crispen Khanyile, a former waiter, and Zimbabwean Thusang Precious Ndebele. The two have three children but are now separated, according to the Mail.

Khanyile was working as a waiter at the luxury five-star Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg in June 2008 while Rock was staying there. She reportedly befriended the family, and introduced them to her children.

It’s unclear how Ntombi came to live with the Rocks, but Compton-Rock soon embraced her as one of her own children.

As the Daily News previously reported, she dedicated her 2010 book, “If It Takes a Village, Build One,” to “my daughters, Lola Simone, Zahra Savanna, and Ntombi-futhi Samantha.”

And in a Q&A that same year with the MyBrownBaby blog, she wrote, “My brown babies are ... Lola Simone, age 7, and Zahra Savannah, age 5. We also have Ntombi, who is 2 years old and from South Africa. She visits our family often and is our pride and joy.”

That same year, Rock stirred up speculation that the little girl was a secret love child after he was photographed leaving New York City’s Trump International Hotel with her, along with his then-wife, his daughter Zahra and a nanny.

His rep told People at the time that Ntombi was “the daughter of a family friend from South Africa whom Malaak Compton-Rock met through her charity endeavors over the years. She visits often and when here is a joy to the Rock family.”

But sources say Rock hasn’t stayed in contact with Ntombi since he and Malaak moved to Splitsville in December 2014, although he has seen his biological daughters. South African officials launched an international investigation last year to determine how the child came to live in the U.S.

Compton-Rock’s lawyer David Aronson of Aronson, Mayefsky & Sloan told People magazine that she is in the process of adopting the little girl, who is very much a part of the family.

“While the adoption by Malaak is not yet finalized, it is actively in process under the rigorous guidelines and safeguards of international adoption policy,” he said in a statement. “The child is in the country lawfully with the written consent of her birth parents, and while here, has been cherished and adored by the entire Rock family."

It continues that Ntombi "has been raised by the parties as a member of the family and has been solely supported by the parties. She also stated that she continues to be the girl's primary caregiver.”