Strauss-Kahn lawyer blasts ‘empty case’ as former IMF chief cleared of pimping

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been acquitted of pimping charges linked to the “Carlton Affair” by a French court. The verdict brings to a close four years of legal drama that gripped France as the political titan once tipped to defeat Nicolas Sarkozy and become president was engulfed by lurid allegations. Strauss-Kahn, 66, had told the court orgies that took place in the midst of the global financial crisis were much-needed “recreational sessions”. In often sordid testimony, the women said they did not enjoy the sometimes brutal gatherings.

We knew that the contradictory and public debate would show the total emptiness of this case.

Henri Leclerc, one of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers

Ten other defendants were also acquitted at the hearing in Lille. The verdict on Strauss-Kahn had been expected since the state prosecutor called for his acquittal because of lack of proof in February. The trial was not the influential Socialist Party politician’s first brush with the law. The most recent spate of allegations started when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011. That case was settled out of court. In 1999, he was charged and later acquitted of corruption while he was Economics Minister in 1999 and in 2008 he was cleared by an internal investigation of claims he coerced an IMF employee into having an affair.

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