Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn acquitted in French pimping trial

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, was cleared of aggravated pimping by French judges on charges stemming from a string of sex parties he attended five years ago.

A panel of French judges issued the verdict in Lille today, saying there was conflicting testimony against him from seven prostitutes and insufficient evidence that the 66-year-old Strauss-Kahn helped plan the gatherings.

“We cannot impute the role of instigator on someone who exchanged 35 text messages over a period of 22 months,” one of the judges said.

The trial brings to a close the so-called Carlton Affair, named for the hotel in the northeastern French town of Lille where some of the sex parties were held. Strauss-Kahn admitted he had attended similar gatherings elsewhere but stressed that they were private, consensual affairs and he could not have known the women were prostitutes as he did not organize the events.

While prostitution and paying for sex aren’t illegal in France, procuring prostitutes for others is. Strauss-Kahn, who was once the leading candidate to replace former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, will now attempt to rebuild his reputation after the lurid revelations that emerged during the trial. Prostitutes testified in February when the trial began that Strauss-Kahn forced the them into “animal” sex and were brought to tears by his behavior.

Strauss-Kahn told the court at the time that he had a right to a private life and that he was being prosecuted for his lifestyle more than anything else.

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