Dominique Strauss-Kahn acquitted of pimping charges

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was cleared of pimping charges Friday in France, putting an end to four years of legal battles that began with a sexual assault charge in a New York hotel room.

Strauss-Kahn's trial on aggravated pimping charges in the northern city of Lille hinged on sex parties that took place amid the global financial crisis.

Strauss-Kahn had told the court the parties were much-needed “recreational sessions” at a time of intense pressure to steer the world through economic peril, and he did not know the women who took part were sex workers.

The sometimes tearful testimony of two sex workers cast a harsh light on Strauss-Kahn's sexual practices. But they testified that they had never told him directly about their professions.

Strauss-Kahn, 66, was among more than a dozen defendants, including hotel managers, entrepreneurs, a lawyer and a police chief. They were accused of participating in orgies in Paris, Washington and in the Brussels region in 2008-2011, when Strauss-Kahn was IMF chief.

Only one, a hotel manager, was convicted in the pimping case. Each faced up to 10 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted.

The verdict was the last step in four years of legal drama for Strauss-Kahn that began when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011, killing his ambitions to be French president. That case was later settled out of court.

The maid's accusations prompted some French women to go public with accusations of harassment or other sexual mistreatment by Strauss-Kahn in the past, including a writer who tried to sue him for attempted rape but whose case was thrown out because the statute of limitations had expired.

The Associated Press