Dominique Strauss-Kahn Held in Hooker Orgy Investigation
Lawyer for former IMF head says he didn't know they were prostitutes.
Feb. 21, 2012 — -- An ex-French official formerly accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York City is being questioned by police again, this time over his alleged involvement in illegal, prostitution-serviced orgies in France.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund and once likely French presidential favorite, arrived at a police station in Lille, France, today where he will be interrogated by police for up to 48 hours for allegedly "procuring" a handful of hookers for an orgy in the northern French town, an official close to the investigation told ABC News.
Strauss-Kahn's alleged involvement in several orgies involving prostitutes -- from Paris to Washington D.C. -- came to light during a wider police investigation into a prostitution ring that began last fall, according to French and international news services.
Dubbed "The Carlton Affair" by the French media after one of the hotels in Lille where the alleged parties took place, the investigation has also reportedly implicated several hotel employees, a lawyer and a high ranking police official in France.
One of Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, Henri Lecleric, told reporters his client wanted to tell his side of the story. In December, Lecleric defended Strauss-Kahn, saying that though his client certainly participated in the orgies, he was "blissfully unaware" anyone involved could be a prostitute.
"He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you're not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman," Leclerc reportedly told French radio Europe 1 then.
Police said the prostitutes told them they had sex with Strauss-Kahn in 2010 and 2011 in a luxury hotel and restaurant in Paris as well as in the American capital, The Associated Press reported, the last of which occurred just days before Strauss-Kahn's alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York City. The official close to the case told ABC News Strauss-Kahn is only being questioned today for his alleged actions in Lille, but investigators could turn over any evidence uncovered to authorities elsewhere later.
Another of Strauss-Kahn's lawyers is present for his questioning today, the official told ABC News. Lecleric's office has not responded to a request for comment on this report.
Strauss-Kahn found himself in the center of a legal and media firestorm in New York City after he was accused by a hotel maid of sexual assault in May 2011. Sofitel Hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo claimed that Strauss-Kahn tried to force oral sex on her.
READ: DSK Claims Alleged Rape Began With Maid's 'Suggestive Look'
Those charges, however, were dropped in August after prosecutors said Diallo gave unreliable accounts of what took place during the alleged incident. After the charges were dropped, Strauss-Kahn said the sexual contact was "consensual but stupid."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.