Disgraced DSK in court over prostitution ring
Print Edition
EX-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn went on trial yesterday for pimping as part of a prostitution ring, four years after a sex scandal cost him his job and a shot at the French presidency.
The disgraced 65-year-old economist found himself back in the dock — this time in the northern French city of Lille — accused of being at the centre of a vice ring which hired prostitutes for sex parties in Brussels, Paris and Washington.
Strauss-Kahn slipped past a throng of journalists to arrive early in the courtroom, where he paced up and down with his hands in his pockets in front of an imposing stone bench, where over 40 massive files were stacked.
He appeared on edge as he sat, arms folded, while presiding judge Bernard Lemaire read out the charges against him and 13 co-accused, a colorful cast of characters including luxury hotel managers, police, and a brothel owner nicknamed “Dodo the Pimp.”
“You are accused of aiding and abetting the prostitution of seven persons between March 29, 2008 and October 4, 2011, and of hiring and encouraging the prostitution of these same persons,” Lemaire told Strauss-Kahn.
Procedural applications, such as a request by a lawyer for the former prostitutes involved for hearings to take place behind closed doors, were expected to dominate the first day of the trial.
Lurid details of group sex and high-end prostitution are likely to emerge in the trial for “aggravated pimping in an organized group,” a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1.5 million euros (US$1.7 million).
The trial will be the latest in a series of legal woes offering a peek behind the bedroom door of a man once tipped as a potential challenger to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The ex-head of the International Monetary Fund, known in France as DSK, saw his career implode in 2011 when he was paraded handcuffed in front of the world’s cameras after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault.
Criminal charges were dropped and the case settled in a civil suit, but six months later Strauss-Kahn’s name cropped up in an investigation into a prostitution ring.
Investigators probing the “Carlton Affair” — named after one of the hotels in Lille where local businessmen and police officials organized sex parties — found some of the prostitutes involved had been hired to participate in soirees attended by Strauss-Kahn.
Prostitution is legal in France but procuring — the legal term for pimping which includes encouraging, benefiting from or organizing prostitution — is punishable by a hefty jail term.
The crux of the case against DSK is whether he knew the women lavishing their attention on him were prostitutes and whether he played a role in organizing their presence.
DSK admits to being a “libertine” who enjoys orgies but has steadfastly denied knowing the women were paid.
“In these circumstances one isn’t always clothed, and I challenge you to tell the difference between a prostitute naked and any other woman naked,” DSK’s lawyer Henri Leclerc, 84, said in 2011.
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