Verdicts are being handed down Friday in the pimping trial for former French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn and two businessmen.
Strauss-Kahn, 66, has acknowledged participating in sex parties, but he has denied knowing that the women involved were prostitutes. And even the Lille prosecutor, in northeastern France, told the court that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
But investigative magistrates nevertheless pursued the case.
In France, prostitution is legal, but pimping is not.
Sex parties in Belgium, New York, D.C.
In initial verdicts, two people were acquitted.
Prosecutors allege that two other defendants, businessman David Roquet and Fabrice Paszkowski, a businessman friend of the Strauss-Kahn, picked up the bills for the sex parties, which took place in places such as Belgium, New York and Washington and were arranged to fit Strauss-Kahn’s schedule.
Strauss-Kahnn, who was the head of the International Monetary Fund, was considered the leading contender to run against Nicolas Sarkozy for the presidency of France until, in 2011, a maid in a New York Hotel accused him of sexual assault.
Strauss-Kahn was initially charged with attempted rape and imprisonment in that case, but the charges were dropped after his accuser admitted lying about some details.
The following year, Strauss-Kahn and the main, Nafissatou Diallo, reached a settlement in a suit she had filed against him. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
