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ATLANTA (AP) -- The trial has begun for a Mexican man charged with masterminding a complex sex trafficking organization that lured young Mexican women to the Atlanta area with the false promises of better lives, good jobs and even romance.

Prosecutors say Amador Cortes-Meza and several relatives were at the center of a scheme that brought at least nine victims from Mexico to metro Atlanta between spring 2006 and June 2008. He could face decades behind bars.

Amador Cortes-Meza's brother and two nephews have already been sentenced to prison.

His defense attorney, Sandra Michaels, stressed that the government must prove her client forced the victims into sex trafficking. She said "did they really only come to the United States because he made them?"

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