<p>A French court today acquitted former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of pimping charges, drawing a line under the latest in a series of legal woes over his sexual escapades.<br /><br />The 66-year-old economist merely nodded his head in acknowledgment of the verdict, the finale of a colourful trial which dragged intimate details of his sex life into the public eye.<br /><br />His acquittal on the charge of "aggravated pimping" did not come as a surprise after the prosecutor called for him to be let off due to lack of evidence at the end of a three-week trial in February.<br /><br />The trial was the latest in a long series of high-profile court cases in the past 15 years in which Strauss-Kahn has landed in the dock for corruption or sexual scandals that have fizzled out.<br /><br />Strauss-Kahn saw his high-flying career at the head of the International Monetary Fund -- and his French presidential prospects -- implode when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011.<br /><br />Not long after those criminal charges were dropped and the case settled in a civil suit, his name cropped up in a probe into a prostitution ring in northern France, which provided sex workers for orgies he attended.<br /><br />He was charged with aiding and abetting the prostitution of seven women -- a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The courtroom in the northern city of Lille heard lurid details of champagne-fuelled orgies attended by Strauss-Kahn as his lawyers accused the court of putting his morals, and prostitution itself, on trial. Strauss-Kahn said that while he was a libertine who enjoyed group sex, he was unaware any of the women attending soirees in Paris, Brussels and Washington, had been paid to be there.</p>.<p><br />In their closing arguments, his lawyers said the case against him had "collapsed" into nothing more than an indictment of Strauss-Kahn's morals, and the prosecution appeared to agree.<br /><br />Strauss-Kahn found himself in the dock alongside a colourful cast of 13 characters accused of taking part in a prostitution ring in northern France. Seven of them, including brothel owner Dominique Alderweireld, known as "Dodo the Pimp", were also acquitted.<br /><br />The former manager of the upmarket Carlton hotel in Lille, where some of the accused threw sex parties for well-connected local businessmen and police officers attended by prostitutes, was given a one-year suspended sentence.</p>
<p>A French court today acquitted former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of pimping charges, drawing a line under the latest in a series of legal woes over his sexual escapades.<br /><br />The 66-year-old economist merely nodded his head in acknowledgment of the verdict, the finale of a colourful trial which dragged intimate details of his sex life into the public eye.<br /><br />His acquittal on the charge of "aggravated pimping" did not come as a surprise after the prosecutor called for him to be let off due to lack of evidence at the end of a three-week trial in February.<br /><br />The trial was the latest in a long series of high-profile court cases in the past 15 years in which Strauss-Kahn has landed in the dock for corruption or sexual scandals that have fizzled out.<br /><br />Strauss-Kahn saw his high-flying career at the head of the International Monetary Fund -- and his French presidential prospects -- implode when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011.<br /><br />Not long after those criminal charges were dropped and the case settled in a civil suit, his name cropped up in a probe into a prostitution ring in northern France, which provided sex workers for orgies he attended.<br /><br />He was charged with aiding and abetting the prostitution of seven women -- a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The courtroom in the northern city of Lille heard lurid details of champagne-fuelled orgies attended by Strauss-Kahn as his lawyers accused the court of putting his morals, and prostitution itself, on trial. Strauss-Kahn said that while he was a libertine who enjoyed group sex, he was unaware any of the women attending soirees in Paris, Brussels and Washington, had been paid to be there.</p>.<p><br />In their closing arguments, his lawyers said the case against him had "collapsed" into nothing more than an indictment of Strauss-Kahn's morals, and the prosecution appeared to agree.<br /><br />Strauss-Kahn found himself in the dock alongside a colourful cast of 13 characters accused of taking part in a prostitution ring in northern France. Seven of them, including brothel owner Dominique Alderweireld, known as "Dodo the Pimp", were also acquitted.<br /><br />The former manager of the upmarket Carlton hotel in Lille, where some of the accused threw sex parties for well-connected local businessmen and police officers attended by prostitutes, was given a one-year suspended sentence.</p>