A federal jury heard two sharply contrasting views Friday of the 44 impoverished Thai workers brought here to work at Alec and Mike Sou’s Aloun Farms.

In the opening of the Sous’ trial on forced-labor charges, prosecutor Kevonne Small told the jury that the Thai nationals’ dreams of working here and making money turned into a "nightmare" once they arrived and had their passports taken away.

They had each paid recruiters $16,000 to $20,000 to get the jobs but lived in overcrowded conditions, some in metal storage containers without plumbing, she said.

They did not receive adequate food and were told not to leave or talk to outsiders, Small said.

"This case is about false promises, broken promises and greed," Small told the jurors.

But defense lawyers said the workers weren’t mistreated and that the prosecution’s case is based on Thai workers who made up the allegations in order to remain in Hawaii as victims of human trafficking.

It was the Sous, they said, who found themselves in a "nightmare" with false accusations that have "devastated" their agriculture business.

"There was no intention to rip (the workers) off, and nothing like that happened," Michael Sou’s attorney Thomas Otake said.

"The government got this case wrong," said Alec Sou’s attorney, Thomas Bie­nert Jr. of San Clemente, Calif.

The trial in Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway’s courtroom is expected to span a month or more and will feature widely divergent accounts of the Sous’ treatment of the workers.

If convicted of any of the 12 felony counts, the Sous face the prospect of a prison term. The most serious charges of forced labor carry a prison term of up to 20 years.

The Sous operate Kapolei-based Aloun Farms, one of the Oahu’s largest agricultural businesses, growing vegetables and fruits on the Ewa plain after the demise of the sugar industry.

The brothers had gained support last year from former Govs. John Waihee and Ben Cayetano and community leaders when the Sous faced sentencing after they pleaded guilty to a felony charge as part of a plea agreement.

But Mollway rejected the agreement, the guilty pleas were withdrawn and the Sous were later re-indicted on the original and additional charges.

Small, a Justice Department civil rights attorney from Washington, D.C., told the jurors Aloun Farms put on a "friendly face" which turned out to be "just a mask."

Aloun Farms, she said, wanted cheap, compliant labor.

The workers were lured by the prospects of getting paid $9.42 an hour and three years of employment, but once they came here, they found themselves isolated and trapped, Small said.

"The defendants never intended to pay the workers what was promised and what was required by law," she told the jury.

But despite the pay and living conditions, "they kept working because they were afraid," Small said.

They knew that if they were sent back to Thailand, it would take them 20 years to pay off the debts incurred from the recruitment fees, she said.

"As soon as they arrived, their hopes and dreams were shattered," Small said.

The defense attorneys portrayed their clients as victims themselves of promises made by Thai recruiters and of the federal government, which did not renew the workers’ visas as expected.

Whatever the recruiters promised was beyond the brothers’ control, the defense said.

Otake said allegations that workers weren’t getting enough food or had to eat moldy bread are simply untrue.

"They were treated well," he said.

The workers were happy to be here, but when their visas expired after five months, they obtained civil lawyers, Otake said.

They were "coached what to say" in coming up with the false allegations, he said.

Bienert said the workers were upset because of deductions and tax withholdings from their pay and the expiration of the visas.

But the Sous paid them $1,500 a month and let the 44 live at the Sous’ former family home, a two-story house in Waianae, the defense lawyer said.

Although the house was crowded, the arrangement was approved by Department of Labor officials, he said.

Some workers chose to live at what Bienert called "mobile home trailers" at the Kapolei farm headquarters rather than commuting from the Waianae home, he said.

The defense attorneys also told the jurors the workers were free to leave the Waianae home, some even going to places such as karaoke bars.

"Where’s the coercion?" Bienert said. "These people could leave the whole time they were there."

The trial resumes Tuesday.