Former IMF chief faces trial on pimping charges
LILLE—Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will face trial on pimping charges along with 12 others over an alleged prostitution ring in the French city of Lille, prosecutors said Friday.
Strauss-Kahn was charged last year with “aggravated pimping as part of an organized gang” in the so-called “Carlton affair” —one of a string of lurid cases that came to light after he resigned from the Washington-based IMF over an alleged sexual assault on a New York hotel maid.
The case centers on allegations that business leaders and police officials supplied prostitutes for sex parties in Lille, some of which are said to have taken place at the city’s Carlton Hotel.
Prosecutors in June called for the charges against StraussKahn, 64, to be dropped, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
But in a statement on Friday, the Lille prosecutors’ office said investigating magistrates had ordered Strauss-Kahn and the other defendants to face trial, though on the lesser charge of “aggravated pimping as part of a group.” The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up 1.5 million euros ($2 million).
Another person will face charges as an accomplice to fraud, prosecutors said.
It was unclear whether prosecutors would appeal the decision to proceed to trial. In the French legal system, investigating judges can overrule recommendations from prosecutors and force them to take suspects to trial.
In a statement issued by his lawyers, Strauss-Kahn said he had been expecting the case to be sent to trial and would appear before the court.
One of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, Richard Malka, denounced the decision to go to trial as part of a “relentless” judicial campaign against his client.
He said Strauss-Kahn’s legal team would use the trial “to denounce the absurdity and abnormality of this aggravated pimping complaint.”
The decision to send his client to trial was based on “ideological, political and moral motives, but certainly not grounded in a legal analysis of the facts.”
Strauss-Kahn, who before the scandals was considered a top candidate of the Socialist Party for the French presidency, admitted to attending sex parties in France and the United States but said he did not know some of the women were being paid.