From Presidential Hopeful to Courtroom Celebrity: The Story of Strauss Kahn 🏛️

He could have been a contender for President of France. <br /><br /> Instead, Dominique Strauss Kahn became a familiar face in court, in the notorious ‘Carlton Affair’.<br /><br /> The ex-cabinet minister and former head of the IMF in theory risks a stiff sentence as a ‘pimp’.<br /><br /> Formally the dominant charge is “procuring with aggravating circumstances”. <br /><br /> It is called the ‘Carlton Affair’ after a hotel in the northern French city of Lille at the centre of an alleged sex services network.<br /><br /> Strauss Kahn was charged in March 2012. The Carlton trial gets under way today, 2nd February, 2015.<br /><br /> Richard Malka, on his defence team, said: “With the greatest firmness, he denies being guilty. In particular, he was never remotely conscious that some of the women met could be prostitutes.”<br /><br /> Investigators said the man dubbed the ‘party king’ by French media knew the women at gatherings he organised at his apartment were professionals. <br /><br /> Carlton management, local business figures and police were also caught in the g