But in an intriguing line of defence, Mr
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer Henri Leclerc said his client could have been “totally
unaware” that the women he met in swinger sessions were prostitutes.
“At these parties, people were not necessarily dressed, and I defy you to
tell the difference between a naked prostitute and any other naked woman,”
he said.
French police are seeking clarify Mr Strauss-Kahn’s role as they investigate a
prostitute network operating out of a luxury hotel in Lille, northern France
called the Carlton.
Some eight leading local figures are under investigation in connection with
the Lille network, including the director of the Carlton hotel, a
businessman with ties to Mr Strauss-Kahn’s party, a police chief and a
construction company executive. All deny any wrongdoing.
Several girls allegedly belonging to this network had sex with Mr
Strauss-Kahn, even travelling to Washington to do so.
Two girls said together they were paid 1,600 euros (£1,330) in cash per
session by two men under investigation in the Carlton Affair but only one
remembers payment being mentioned during these.
Mr Strauss-Kahn admits taking part in orgies arranged by “friends”
as part of his “uninhibited sex life”, but that “he never
paid a centime” and never asked if his partners were being paid.
“I have a horror of prostitutes and pimping,” he is quoted as saying.
The former Socialist politician, who at one point was tipped to be the next
French president, has asked to speak to investigators in the case to try to
end the “dangerous and malicious insinuations”. Le Point magazine
claimed police may question him in custody in the coming weeks.
The mobile linking Mr Strauss-Kahn to the 10 girls belonged to Fabrice
Paszkowski, a Lille-based businessman currently under investigation for “aggravated
procuring by an organised group”.
Mr Paszkowski mislaid it during an encounter involving Mr Strauss-Kahn and
four women in a luxury Paris hotel in February last year.
DSK, as the French call him, later allegedly retrieved the phone, using it to
contact his friend and arrange meetings with girls for the three months
leading up to his arrest in May on suspicion of trying to rape maid
Nafissatou Diallo.
When charges were dropped, he returned to France only to face separate
allegations that he tried to rape a young writer eight years ago.
These too were dropped and Mr Strauss-Kahn has been tentatively seeking to
return to public life, making recent appearances at an economic forum in
China and in Sarcelles, the Paris suburb where he was mayor.
But his bounce back efforts have been hampered by a string of testimonies from
escort girls alleging they had sex with him. Some claim he was “brutal”
but none have pressed for charges.
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