Two brothers, owners of a prominent chain of bakeries, and another 21 people are on trial on charges stemming from  human trafficking, prostitution and money laundering. One of the chain’s owners denied the charges against him, claiming his problems began when he fell in love with a Romanian exotic dancer.

“I began working at the age of 15 at a bakery. I came to Athens, worked hard, saved money and opened the bakeries,” he said in court testimony. “I went to Romania and fell in love with a Romanian stripper that I brought to Greece… but she didn’t want to work at the bakery. That’s why I … opened the strip clubs. I did it for the woman I loved.” The strip clubs in question were called Alcatraz and Star, both in Athens.

The baker, aged 46, known simply as A.G., explained that one of the strippers who worked at one of the clubs started the case against him for revenge because she was fired on account of drunkedness.

The other brother, known as P.G., backed up the story and said the bakeries were doing well and it was his mistake to be swayed by his brother to open the strip clubs.

Asked by the judge as to why he created the offshore company based in Cyprus to manage the assets, he said that he was following his accountant’s advice. The businesses were also registered in the names of third parties, individuals that authorities claimed were a mere “front” for the two accused brothers.

On their part, the 50 women per month, mostly from the Balkans and eastern Europe, worked at each club that had an annual turnover of 5 mln euros. The women worked for less than 50 euros per night in shows that required them to offer various “services” to clients. The women were brought to the country by the employment agency known as “West Line” that exploited their vunerable financial situation to draw up travel documents and bring them to Greece from east Europe.

Once in Greece, the women were pimped out and forced to offer sexual services, according to a voluminous indictment.

The trial is set to continue on April 20.