FRANCE-STRAUSS-KAHN/FILE Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces trial on pimping charges

Record ID: 559555

  • Title: FRANCE-STRAUSS-KAHN/FILE Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces trial on pimping charges
  • Date: 2nd February 2015
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 29, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRANCO-AMERICAN LAWYER AND PARTNER AT LAW FIRM FIELD FISHER WATERHOUSE, CHRISTOPHER MESNOOH, SAYING: "This affair started ironically before the affair in New York that brought down his presidential career in 2011. There were anonymous tips that were made to the police in Lille which is a city in the North of France in very early 2011, claiming that there was a prostitution ring operating in that city and the police started to investigate and after a number of weeks, they discovered that a number of people were involved including apparently Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn."
  • Embargoed: 17th February 2015 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9NJ0COT270JUJCPP489M2IU5C
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT WAS PREVIOUSLY RELEASED ON JANUARY 30 AS 5159-FRANCE-DSK TRIAL/PREVIEW
    PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
    Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be tried in France on pimping charges starting on Monday (February 2), after a long inquiry into sex parties attended by the man whose presidential hopes were dashed by a separate 2011 U.S. sex scandal.
    Investigating judges in the case determined that Strauss-Kahn, 64, should be judged by a criminal court over allegations he was complicit in a pimping operation involving prostitutes at the Carlton hotel in the northern city of Lille, despite the recommendation of a public prosecutor last June that the inquiry be dropped without trial.
    Thirteen other people under formal investigation in the Lille case will also be tried, some facing additional charges of fraud and abuse of corporate funds.
    The so-called Carlton affair involved sex parties that Strauss-Kahn has acknowledged attending although he says he was unaware that the women who participated were prostitutes.
    International lawyer Christopher Mesnooh said that the affair started in 2011 before Strauss-Kahn faced attempted rape charges in New York that were later dropped and after anonymous tips were made to the police in Lille about a prostitution ring involving Strauss-Kahn.
    "This affair started ironically before the affair in New York that brought down his presidential career in 2011. There were anonymous tips that were made to the police in Lille which is a city in the north of France in very early 2011, claiming that there were prostitution rings operating in that city and the police started to investigate and after a number of weeks, they discovered that a number of people were involved including apparently Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn," Mesnooh told Reuters Television.
    Under French law, pimping is a broad crime that encompasses aiding or encouraging prostitution.
    Because the parties allegedly involved several prostitutes, Strauss-Kahn will stand trial on the more serious charge of "aggravated pimping," which carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a 1.5 million euro fine.
    The former French finance minister has acknowledged attending sex parties in various cities but maintains he was unaware the women taking part were paid sex workers.
    He has said he is being hounded unfairly over his lifestyle in a country where frequenting prostitutes is not illegal.
    Strauss-Kahn went from being a pillar of the global economic elite to a disgraced rape suspect paraded before TV cameras, unshaven and in handcuffs, in a matter of hours after New York police pulled him off an airplane and briefly held him in jail as he was being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in New York, a charge that was later dropped.
    He quit his IMF post and gave up his aspirations of running for the Socialist Party in the May 2012 presidential election.
    The maid eventually dropped her charges and received a settlement from Strauss-Kahn
    Strauss-Kahn was placed under formal investigation in 2012 and kept a low profile, quietly separating from his wife and rebuilding his life as a consultant and international conference speaker.
    Regarding Strauss-Kahn's future, Mesnooh said the economist had shown himself to be a very strong and resilient man and if he was proven to be innocent at the end of the trial, a political life would still be possible if he wanted to.
    "Mr. Strauss-Kahn has shown himself to be remarkably resilient more so that many of us would be in similar situations, so I would certainly not write him off, but again that question can be answered at the end of this trial and again as a lawyer I have to insist presumption of innocence until proven guilty. We will see at the end of this trial where this goes and where his life goes," Mesnooh said.
    France was the first country to mint Europe's new single currency, the euro, barely one week after European Union (EU) leaders gave their official go-ahead to European Monetary Union (EMU).
    Strauss-Khan, French finance minister at the time, was present as the coin presses began to roll, and held up one of the newly minted coins, smiling and posing for photographs.
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