Strauss-Kahn probe entangles police chief

LILLE, France, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The Lille, France, police chief partied in Paris and Washington with former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, investigators say.

Jean-Christophe Lagarde has been arrested on suspicion of pimping, Radio France Internationale reported Friday. Several businessmen are also under investigation, officials said.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested on a plane at Kennedy International Airport in May on charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel housekeeper. Those charges were later dropped.

Le Figaro reported that David Roquet, an executive with the French construction company Eiffage, helped pay for sex parties at a Paris hotel attended by both Lagarde and Strauss-Kahn. Roquet was arrested Oct. 14.

Lagarde also allegedly traveled to Washington on trips paid for by businessmen. Le Figaro said the last trip was just before Strauss-Kahn's New York arrest.

Lille, an industrial city in northern France, is the center of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.