London - Lurid details of lunchtime sex parties were revealed on Tuesday by a former prostitute in the “pimping” trial of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The woman, nicknamed Jade, also told police of orgies allegedly involving the 65-year-old, describing them as “carnage, with a heap of mattresses on the floor”, a court heard.
She was the first witness on the stand as the former International Monetary Fund chief is tried with 13 others for alleged involvement in a prostitution ring.
The court in Lille, northern France, heard Jade talk about a “public figure” she met through a vice ring based at the luxury Carlton Hotel in the city.
She told how her employer Dominique Alderweireld, a notorious brothel owner known as “Dodo the Pimp”, helped arrange for her and other women to attend lunchtime sex parties at a private apartment in Lille. When asked by the judge what she was paid for, Jade replied: “Well, I wasn’t there doing the cleaning.” She added: “There were sexual relations but each person had a partner. There was no orgy where everyone gets involved – the men made their choice.”
The witness described a “classy” environment with Champagne and a buffet – a contrast to the “carnage” of orgies allegedly involving Strauss-Kahn, which she described to police in documents submitted to the court.
Strauss-Kahn will not appear until he testifies next week, and witnesses are not allowed to refer to those not present, which is why the former prostitute made references to a “public figure”.
Members of the so-called Carlton ring allegedly procured prostitutes, including Jade, for Strauss-Kahn and his entourage to throw sex parties in Paris, Brussels and Washington DC.
Prostitution is legal in France but procuring – the legal term for pimping, which includes encouraging, benefiting from or organising prostitution – is a crime. The trial focused on who paid whom, and who gave the orders.
Strauss-Kahn has said he never set foot in the Carlton and did not know “Dodo” and his associate Rene Kojfer, a former public relations manager for the hotel.
The former politician admits to being a “libertine” who took part in orgies, but denies knowing that the women at the parties were prostitutes. He faces up to 10 years in prison if it is proved that he paid women to attend sex parties.
According to the charge sheet, Strauss-Kahn is guilty of “aggravated pimping”, which means managing more than one prostitute.
He is specifically accused of “aiding, abetting or protecting” the prostitution of seven women whom he slept with regularly.
In court documents, a number of “girlfriends” admit they attended orgies organised by Strauss-Kahn, who was once seen being “taken care of” by up to eight women at a time at the Murat Hotel, in Paris. Four prostitutes, identified as Melanie, Mounia, Sabrina and Sandrine, are civil plaintiffs in the case.
Some who are not appearing in court allege being forced into “brutal” sex with Strauss-Kahn.
One, called Marie-Anne, said he committed a “bestial act” during a particularly “violent” sex session in Washington DC in December 2010.
Defence barristers for Strauss-Kahn complained that such details were a violation of his rights to privacy. The trial is the latest in a series of cases offering a peek into the private life of a man once tipped to become president of France.
The country was stunned when it saw him handcuffed in New York after a hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in May 2011, a case that was eventually settled in a civil suit.
At that time, Strauss-Kahn was married to the multi-millionaire art heiress and journalist Anne Sinclair, 66, who divorced him last year. The case continues.
Daily Mail