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France: Prosecutors Ask to Drop Case Against Strauss-Kahn Over Prostitutes French Prosecutors Seek to Drop Charges Against Strauss-Kahn
(1 day later)
Prosecutors in Lille are seeking to drop charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, in connection with a ring that recruited prostitutes for sex parties, according to a statement released Tuesday by the prosecutors’ office. The request was a preliminary victory for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was charged in March 2012 with involvement in the prostitution ring. The three investigative judges in the case have a month to decide whether the charges should be dropped. If they are, Mr. Strauss-Kahn will have been cleared of all the legal problems that arose after he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel housekeeper in New York in 2011, forcing him to resign as chief of the I.M.F. and ruining his ambition to seek the French presidency. The Lille prosecutor said there was insufficient evidence to keep Mr. Strauss-Kahn under formal investigation. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has insisted that he was unaware that prostitutes had attended the parties, and argued that lust is not a crime. PARIS — Prosecutors in the northern French city of Lille are seeking to drop charges filed against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund, in connection with a ring that recruited prostitutes for sex parties from Paris to Washington, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the prosecutors’ office.
It is a preliminary victory for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was charged in March 2012 with involvement in the prostitution ring. The three investigative judges involved in the case have a month to decide whether the charges should be dropped.
If they decide to dismiss the charges, Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be cleared of all the legal problems that arose after he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel housekeeper in New York in 2011, forcing him to resign as managing director of the I.M.F. and ruining his ambition to seek the French presidency.
The prosecutor of Lille said there was insufficient evidence to keep Mr. Strauss-Kahn and Jean-Luc Vergin, a former regional director of Eiffage, a construction company, under formal investigation. Mr. Vergin was suspected of having paid prostitutes to attend the parties.
The prosecutor also recommended that the 12 other suspects in the case be tried on charges of conspiracy to procure prostitutes, fraud and abuse of corporate funds.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn has always insisted that he was unaware that prostitutes had attended the parties, and has essentially argued that lust is not a crime.
In October, the Lille prosecutor’s office dropped rape charges against him after a Belgian escort recanted her original account of a brutal encounter in Washington in December 2010, saying it was merely sex play.
In November, Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers negotiated a confidential settlement with Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel maid who had accused him of sexual assault, allegations that were not pursued by the Manhattan prosecutor’s office because of doubts about her credibility.