Strauss-Kahn to face trial on pimping charge Denies accusations: Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former chief of the International Monetary Fund, has been ordered to stand trial in France on charges linked to his involvement in a prostitution ring prosecutors say was operating in France and the US. Judges in the northern city of Lille, who have been investigating Mr Strauss-Kahn (pictured) and a small group of French businessmen and police officials for nearly two years, charged Mr Strauss-Kahn and 12 others with pimping, or "aggravated procurement in a group." That charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of €1.5 million ($2 million). Mr Strauss-Kahn, whose political career collapsed because of a 2011 New York sex scandal and the subsequent flood of sexual misconduct claims against him, has denied any wrongdoing, though he has admitted to participating in sex parties in France and Washington. He was not aware, he has said, that the women involved were prostitutes. "Dominique Strauss-Kahn denies the totality of the deeds of which he is accused," his lawyer Fredrique Baulieu said, noting that a state prosecutor called for the case to be dismissed last month. But on Friday, the magistrates in Lille overruled the prosecutor.