I suspect that the Judge is right about this. If it was a matter of a few minutes, I am mystified why they would do this without a compelling reason. I suspect the crew were running out of hours and either left or were stranded by EU flight hours.
Also mystified why you would complain to DOT. It will gather dust. You can complain to the Hellenic Aviation Authority in English. The link, with English EU complaint form is here:
http://www.hcaa.gr/content/index.asp?tid=563
Much more likely to get something done about it here....