Bloomberg News reported.
The preliminary charges came after "DSK" as he is widely known in France faced eight hours of questioning by investigators in Lille Monday, the Associated Press reported. The former IMF chief was subsequently "released under judicial supervision after paying 100,000 Euros in bail, and was barred from contacting others charged in the case," the AP report said. "Under French law, preliminary charges mean authorities have reason to believe a crime was committed but allow more time for investigation."
French prosecutors in Lille have been investigating an illegal prostitution ring that is alleged to have brought prostitutes from Belgium to luxury hotels in the city to have sex with VIP clients, France's Radio France International reported in October. At least five men have already been jailed as a result of the inquiry, including the director and PR chief of one of the city hotels.
An attorney for Strauss-Kahn adamantly denied Monday that his client had broken any law. "He firmly declares that he is not guilty of these acts and of never having the least inkling that the women he met could have been prostitutes," Richard Malka, a lawyer for Strauss-Kahn, told Agence France Press.
Another lawyer for Strauss-Kahn had earlier acknowledged that Strauss-Kahn had participated in the sex parties, but said his client could not have known the women were prostitutes.
"I defy you to tell the difference between a nude prostitute and a nude classy woman," DSK lawyer Henri Leclerk said in a statement in December. "Because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you're not always dressed."Strauss-Kahn, 62, was reportedly mulling a run as the Socialist Party candidate for French president last spring, when he was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York. He resigned from the IMF during the investigation, but prosecutors dropped the charges in August, citing the unreliability and inconsistencies in the maid's accounts. But two months after his return to France, Strauss-Kahn was questioned in connection with the Lille prostitution ring.
The charges in Lille come "two days before a New York court" is due to take up a civil case filed by the hotel maid who contends DSK sexually assaulted her, the AP said.Â
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