© ReutersShameful fall from grace: Dominique Strauss-Kahn
It follows a complaint by a Belgian prostitute that she was attacked by the former International Monetary Fund chief in a hotel room in the United States. The alleged crime is said to have taken place in December 2010 close to the White House in Washington DC.
Described by three judges as a possible 'gang rape', it is set to form vital evidence into a prostitute ring working out of the Carlton Hotel in Lille, northern France. Prosecutors in the city today confirmed that they had opened a formal investigation, and that Strauss-Kahn faced charges over the matter.
Highly-paid young women working for the ring are said to have flown to the USA to take part in 'sex parties' with Strauss-Kahn and other men at the W Hotel in Washington.
Referring to Strauss-Kahn, a Belgian prostitute identified only as Marie-Anne S., aged 25, said: 'He used force. He was holding my hand, he pulled my hair, he hurt me. I weigh 50 kilos, he's heavier than me.'
Marie-Anne S. claimed that Strauss-Kahn tried to sodomize her, adding: 'I refused and told him no, I don't want to. I made it clear that I did not want to, several times out loud.'
Three examining judges asked prosecutors to consider the 'facts of the gang rape', and a spokesman for Lille prosecutors said : 'A formal inquiry has now begun.'
The four men under investigation for the rape include Strauss-Kahn, who has already been charged with aggravated pimping in relation to the Carlton Affair.
© AFP/Getty ImagesCo-accused: Former Lille police chief Jean-Christophe Lagarde is also under investigation
Roquet is said to have held Marie-Anne S. by the wrists as Strauss-Kahn had anal sex with her, and the other men are said to have ignored Anne-Marie's pleas for help.
Both women were said to be posing as 'secretaries for Eiffage' and were paid 2,500 euros - £2,000 - to go on the three-day trip.
The rape itself is said to have taken place on December 16, with the four men and two prostitutes taking part in an orgy in a suite at the W Hotel in Washington.
Another vice girl involved, identified as Aurelie D. , 26, has confirmed that sexual acts took place at the party, saying of Marie-Anne S.: 'I saw she did not like it. But I did not hear her say no. If she had shouted I would have heard her, and would have intervened.'
Aurelie D said she was 'too busy' having sex to see too much of what was going on with Marie-Anne S.
Strauss-Kahn, in turn, has told police that there was 'no brutality' involved in the orgy under investigation.
Earlier this week, the 63-year-old was denied diplomatic immunity from being sued over an alleged attempted rape of a New York chamber maid in May 2011.
In a ruling handed down in Bronx Supreme Court, Justice Douglas McKeon threw out a motion to have the civil case dismissed, raising the prospect of a New York trial.
Mr Strauss-Kahn is accused of attempting to rape hotel employee Nafissatou Diallo, 33, at Manhattan's Sofitel Hotel.
She claims that the married Frenchman ran at her naked, molested her and forced her to perform oral sex on him after she entered his suite to clean it.
The claims led to a criminal investigation against Mr Strauss-Kahn and his house arrest in New York, but charges were dropped.
At one stage, Strauss-Kahn was expected to be the Socialist candidate for the presidency of France this year, but the criminal allegations meant he had to give up his political ambitions.
He is currently unemployed and living in Paris with his third wife, the journalist and art heiress Anne Sinclair.
this piece of garbage will be prosecuted and go behind bars; but. probably not, as someone will be bought off, and the scumbag will somehow escape the clutches of the "law" and end up in some hidden palace where he'll be rewarded for all the misery and grief he has brought upon his victims.