Strauss Kahn, from playground to judgement

He could have been a contender for President of France.

Instead, Dominique Strauss Kahn became a familiar face in court, in the notorious ‘Carlton Affair’.

The ex-cabinet minister and former head of the IMF in theory risks a stiff sentence as a ‘pimp’.

Formally the dominant charge is “procuring with aggravating circumstances”.

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.

Strauss Kahn was charged in March 2012. The Carlton trial gets under way today, 2nd February, 2015.

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.”

Investigators said the man dubbed the ‘party king’ by French media knew the women at gatherings he organised at his apartment were professionals.

Carlton management, local business figures and police were also caught in the g