By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
updated 3:46 AM EST, Wed December 19, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Strauss-Kahn does not deny he attended sex parties
- But, his lawyers say, he didn't know the girls were paid for sex
- Earlier this month, he settled a civil suit with a New York hotel maid
- He also deflected two other scandals
(CNN) -- In one case after another, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has managed to put behind him the allegations of sexual misconduct that sidelined his prospects of becoming France's next president.
On Wednesday, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund -- and one time French finance minister -- will find out if he has managed a clean sweep.
A French appeals court will decide whether prosecutors should drop charges against Strauss-Kahn for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring, in what is known in France as the "Carlton affair."
Strauss-Kahn does not deny that he attended sex parties at Hotel Carlton in the northern city of Lille. But, his lawyers claim, he did not know that the young women at the parties were being paid for sex.
So, to charge Strauss-Kahn with aggravated pimping, is "unhealthy, sensationalist and not without a political agenda," his lawyers said.
Strauss-Khan, a 63-year-old economist, was widely expected to become the Socialist presidential candidate -- until his professional career imploded with an arrest in New York in May 2011.
A New York hotel housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, told police that a naked Strauss-Kahn emerged from a room of his spacious luxury hotel suite and tried to force himself on her, at one point dragging her into the bathroom and trying to remove her underwear.
Strauss-Kahn alleged the encounter was consensual, but stepped down from his $500,000 job at the IMF.
A grand jury indicted him on seven counts, including sexual abuse and attempted rape, but prosecutors later dropped the charges after concluding Diallo had lied about some details of the alleged attack -- despite forensic evidence that showed a sexual encounter had occurred.
Diallo then filed a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn. The two sides reached a settlement last week, the details of which have not been disclosed.
Earlier in October, a French prosecutor dropped an investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington.
The young Belgian woman whose testimony was the basis for the inquiry withdrew her previous statement and said she would not press charges -- leaving the investigation with no grounds to continue, officials said.
Strauss-Kahn also faced allegations of attempted rape from a young French writer.
Tristane Banon filed a complaint, alleging a 2003 attack. But prosecutors said the case could not be pursued because of a statute of limitations.
Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations and has since filed a countersuit in France, alleging slander.
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