 | German police, tax and customs investigators have raided Berlin’s biggest brothel, charging it is linked to the Hells Angels biker gang, and making six arrests. They detained the two managers of the so-called nude sauna club Artemis and four “madames” in the raid, in which they encountered 117 sex workers and more than 100 clients, said police and prosecutors. Prostitution is legal in Germany but police charge that the four-story brothel complex constituted a “brutal and illegal” system that severely exploited dependent women. Most of the women were from eastern Europe, Russia and several countries in the Middle East. |
  | Those detained in the raid were accused of tax fraud and withholding social security contributions, said police, who added that they were also investigating possible human trafficking by the club. Police charge that while Artemis had officially engaged the women as “self-employed” sex workers, they were in fact regular employees with set work hours, price rates and instructions to perform specific sexual acts. By withholding social security payments, the club had cheated the state out of at least €17.5m Hells Angels bikers allegedly procured women for the club in return for favours including free admission. Police confiscated €6.4m euros in cash, cars and property, also including 12 apartments and other premises in Berlin and nationwide. |  |
