PARIS, France — Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged Monday with involvement in an organized vice ring that procured prostitutes for top-class clients, lawyers said.
Prosecutors said the 62-year-old former Socialist finance minister and one-time presidential candidate had been released on $135,000 bail following the charges.
Strauss-Kahn was called in by investigating magistrates in the northern French city of Lille two days earlier than expected and charged with an offense that could carry 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
“He firmly declares that he is not guilty of these acts and never had the least inkling that the women he met could have been prostitutes,” said Richard Malka, one of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers.
“Dominique Strauss-Kahn was placed under judicial control and was forbidden from contacting defendants, civil plaintiffs, witnesses and the press regarding the procedures,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Strauss-Kahn’s name came up as police were investigating an operation that involved sex workers from brothels over the Belgian border being brought to France for orgies in high-class hotels in Lille and Paris.
Strauss-Kahn admits that he took part in some parties, one of which was said to involve women being flown to Washington to entertain him while he was still managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
But, through his lawyer, he has denied knowing the escorts were paid.
Using prostitutes is not illegal in France, but prosecutors were seeking proof that Strauss-Kahn was aware the parties were arranged by an organized ring and paid for by other guests misusing company funds.
Several Lille-based businessmen and policemen have been accused of taking part in the ring.
Strauss-Kahn told police he did not suspect the women were prostitutes because he was introduced to them by senior police officers.
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers will also be in court on Wednesday in New York for the first hearing in a civil case brought against him by Nafissatou Diallo, a hotel maid who alleges he sexually assaulted her.
Judge Douglas McKeon will be asked to rule on a motion by Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers urging him to dismiss the case on the grounds that, at the time of the alleged attack in May last year, their client had diplomatic immunity.
McKeon has said he will give a written judgment on whether the case can go forward within a few weeks. If he accepts the motion, Strauss-Kahn’s US legal woes may be over. If not, Diallo’s case for damages will go forward.