The former director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and former favorite of the French socialists for 2012 presidential candidate, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, begins this Monday to stand trial for 'aggravated pimping in meeting', in what the defense describes as 'libertine soirées' and the prosecution called orgies with prostitutes.
Strauss-Kahn must be present at the opening of the proceedings in a court of Lille, despite his testimony only be expected next week. Accused of being the main beneficiary and instigator of parties with prostitutes, Strauss-Kahn ensures that he always thought he was participating in "libertine evenings" without knowing he was with paid sex workers.
If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to ten years.
The process known as Carlton began to become public at about the same time that burst the scandal of New York when Strauss-Kahn, still director of the IMF was arrested, accused of raping a maid at the Sofitel hotel. This case, in 2012, ended archived after the accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, had reached a confidential settlement with the French.
The research which led to the process of Lille started at least a year earlier, but it took some time before the name of Strauss-Kahn arose in tapping. Following anonymous information, the police began to monitor who attended Carlton Hotels and Tours Lille, where the public relations René Kojfer arrange prostitutes for some customers.
In a wiretapping to Kojfer mobile phone the name of Strauss-Kahn came up. The same happened with the names of businessmen David Roquet and Fabrice Paszkowski, part of a circle that Strauss-Kahn liked to have fun, to which joins the police officer Jean-Christophe Lagarde.
According to the indictment, the four were found in many late nights - in Lille, but also in Paris and even in Washington, where they have organized three trips when Strauss-Kahn still ran the IMF (one of these parties has happened two days before the prison because of Nafissatou Diallo charge).
At 65, Strauss-Kahn is accused in a case with 14 defendants. The position of the defense during the investigation stage remains untouchable: the former politician like parties but was unaware that it had engaged with prostitutes.
The magistrates of the process believe that he could not ignore that women were prostitutes and concluded that these parties were organized especially for Strauss-Kahn, 'the king of the party'.
One of the prostitutes heard in the survey, Jade, replied 'It's really fun to believe in his naivety'.
In the statement, the prosecutor asked for the case to be filed but the judges decided to accuse Strauss-Kahn anyway in a broader definition of pimping. According to the attorney of David Roquet 'Men calling prostitutes to their home and then they end up having sexual relations with friends ... It happens all the time, and no one was accused of pimping for it.'
