Famous Amsterdam sex theatre allowed to stay open

The Amsterdam city authorities were on the verge of shutting down landmark erotic theatre Casa Rosso in the red light district. Owner Jan Otten resisted - and won. “None of those stories about criminal money are true.”

67-year-old Jan Otten is the 'face' of the Amsterdam red light district. His erotic theatre Casa Rosso is the most prominent landmark in the historic area of window prostitutes, sex shops and cannabis selling coffee shops. Its illuminated facade has appeared on TV shows across the world and Otten has contracts with 180 travel organisations.

Otten prefers to sit behind the till himself, welcoming guests to the shows, which feature intercourse on the stage."There are guides that won't come inside if I am not there," he said.

It was world news therefore when it was announced three years ago that Otten’s businesses were being shut down by the municipality. In addition to Casa Rosso, Otten owns the Banana bar and a number of peep shows and sex shops in Amsterdam's red light district. On Tuesday it was disclosed that Otten will after all be granted his entertainment and operating licences from the municipality of Amsterdam, after a long legal battle.

The national Bibob agency, which supervises the integrity of licensees, had advised against Otten's retaining his licences. It alleged Otten had connections with criminal circles and that criminal money may have been laundered via Casa Rosso.

“At first I thought it was a comedy," Otten said. "I said: go ahead and look into it, none of those stories about criminal money are true. I've done nothing wrong." But when the licences were not forthcoming, "it turned into a very bad movie." Once, when he got into an argument with one of his employees, he thought about "selling the whole damn business".

Otten has worked at Casa Rosso for almost forty years. First as the youngest attendant, then as doorman. In 1996 he took over the business. He has more than 120 permanent employees, making him one of the larger private employers in the city centre.

He purchased the company with financial backing from his friend Charles Geerts. This deal was one of the obstacles posited by the Bibob dossier. Geerts too had problems with the municipality because of alleged ties with criminals and therefore decided to sell his erotic businesses in 2007. Shutting down his windows became part of the city's plans to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes to drive organised crime out of the tourist haven.

The Bibob agency connected Geerts and Otten with laundering ransom money that had been paid in the 1983 for kidnapped beer magnate Freddy Heineken. “Those stories were quickly refuted,”Otten said. Nonetheless the investigation took a very long time because not all of his investments were transparent.

In the meantime Casa Rosso suffered under the threat of closure. “I have had a great deal of trouble from all the stories that have come out since 2007. Whether involving human trafficking or forced prostitution, Casa Rosso is brought into the picture in all the stories about abuses in the red light district. And I have nothing to do with that,” Otten said.

Jan Otten always remained optimistic to the outside world. But people who know him well knew that it was eating away at him inside. The economic crisis and the Mexican flu have significantly pushed down visitor numbers and revenue since last year. The municipal policy of 'cleaning up' the red light district does not help in terms of client numbers either. "My turnover has dropped by 50 percent." He does not want to disclose how much turnover the business has.

And then there are the costs he has had to incur to secure his licence. “All those lawyers and advisers. It certainly cost a million euros. For a licence. That ruins a business owner,"Otten said. "In retrospect I do have the feeling that they wanted to ruin me."