Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn acquitted on sex charges

LILLE, France, June 12 (UPI) -- Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was acquitted Friday of acting as the linchpin in an international prostitution ring, a charge that could have brought 10 years in prison and nearly a $2 million fine.

Strauss-Kahn, 66, once considered a lead contender to be the president of France, was cleared of aggravated pimping. The court found there was no evidence he promoted prostitution and profited from it, closing the book on four years of legal proceedings that began in 2011 when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. The charges were later dropped and a civil suit was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Strauss-Kahn was among 14 involved in the alleged sex scandal that included hotel managers, a lawyer, a police chief, businessmen and alleged brothel owner Dominique Alderweireld, nicknamed "Dodo the Pimp." Investigators said Alderweireld ran a prostitution ring out of a hotel in Lille, France and described Strauss-Kahnas the "linchpin" of the prostitution ring and "king of the party." Strauss-Kahn said he never knew the women he took to orgies were sex workers.

Strauss-Kahn, known in France as DSK, said he participated in the sex parties because he needed "recreational sessions" while busy "saving the world" from one of its worst financial meltdowns.

The only person convicted in the case was the hotel's public relations head, René Kojfer, who received a year's suspended sentence for acting as an "intermediary" in recruiting the prostitutes.