Topless protesters greet ex-IMF chief
Former French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn tells court at pimping trial he thought prostitutes were ‘group of friends’
LILLE, FRANCE— Disgraced former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a French court Tuesday he was unaware that women who participated in orgies at luxury hotels in Paris and Washington, D.C., were prostitutes.
The 65-year-old and 13 co-defendants are on trial accused of aggravated pimping in connection with a sex ring centred on the Hotel Carlton in Lille.
In his first testimony since the trial began Feb. 2, Strauss-Kahn reaffirmed his long-standing defence that he did not know of the “prostitutional character” of the women who took part in his orgies.
Strauss-Kahn’s arrival at the courthouse in Lille was disrupted by three topless protesters from the provocative group Femen, who were detained by police.
Strauss-Kahn’s chances of becoming French president were ruined by a separate sex scandal in New York.
The economist, known widely as DSK, faces up to 10 years in prison and a 1.5 million fine (more than $2.1 million Canadian) if convicted.
Strauss-Kahn and the 13 other defendants are accused of operating a prostitution ring out of luxury hotels in Paris, Washington, D.C., Lille and Brussels.
“I had a very hectic life, with just a few outlets for recreation, and these sessions were part of that,” StraussKahn told the court.
According to Bloomberg, StraussKahn told the judge the frequency of the Lille parties he attended has been grossly exaggerated in the press. “When one reads about this, one gets the impression that this was frenetic activities, the dates are so mixed up,” he said. “It was four times a year for three years, nothing more.”
Adding that he believed the women to be “a group of friends” StraussKahn said that if he’d known they were prostitutes “I would have totally stopped participating in these soirees.”
Two of Strauss-Kahn’s co-defendants also testified Tuesday that they’d kept hidden from StraussKahn the fact that they’d hired prostitutes for the orgies. “It was a secret between him and me,” Fabrice Paszkowski told the court, referring to fellow co-defendant David Roquet.
The court has so far heard testimony from some of Strauss-Kahn’s fellow defendants, including a Belgian brothel owner, local businessmen, a police officer and hotel staff accused of organizing sex parties for StraussKahn’s benefit.
Investigators have compiled hundreds of pages of testimony from prostitutes describing the orgies.
One of the prostitutes, called Mounia in court, testified that while she never discussed payment with Strauss-Kahn, everyone involved knew she was a prostitute.
It’s not illegal to pay for sex in France, but it is against the law to solicit or to run a prostitution business. Prostitutes questioned in the case have said that between 2009 and 2011 — when the IMF chief was dealing with a global financial crisis — Strauss-Kahn was organizing orgies at luxury hotels in Paris, at a restaurant in the French capital and also in Washington. With files from Bloomberg