French prosecutors dropped a gang rape charge today against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund leader. He's been embroiled in sexual assault charges that began last year when a maid at a New York hotel claimed he raped her.
The gang rape charge surfaced when a woman who told police she was a prostitute said she'd been forced to have sex despite her refusal, according to the Washington Post. She'd been flown to a Washington hotel. Today, prosecutors say ; she also wrote a letter to the prosecutor saying she had agreed to have sex for money with Strauss-Kahn.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers , says Reuters. "We are satisfied but the fight goes on," said attorney Richard Malka. He's referring to an investigation into Strauss-Kahn's practice of attending sex parties with prostitutes in France, Belgium and the United States.
It's called the "Carlton Affair" in France: a police investigation named after a luxury hotel in Lille that's examining Strauss-Kahn's involvement in an alleged prostitution ring. As CNN reports, prostitution is not illegal in France, but profiting from a prostitute is against the law. but insist he did not know young women at the parties were paid. They've asked a court to drop the whole prostitution inquiry.
Sexual abuse allegations against Strauss-Kahn's burst into view last year. In May, 2011, a hotel maid in New York accused him of sexually assaulting her last year. His arrest was sensational, as photographers snapped pictures while New York police escorted him to jail. But the maid's allegations were not substantiated and Strauss-Kahn was freed. The matter didn't stop there - against him, while Strauss-Kahn fired back with a countersuit of his own, notes AFP.
That case prompted a French author to come forward and accuse Strauss-Kahn of raping her eight years ago. The charges were dropped, says the Telegraph, because judges ruled the matter was sexual harassment , not rape, and .
The allegations have caused Strauss-Kahn to lose his wife and his political career. He'd been when the maid made the sexual abuse charge.
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