NEW YORK (JTA) – Dominique Strauss-Kahn reportedly is urging French magistrates to speak with him as soon as possible about a prostitution scandal in which he has been implicated.
Dubbed "The Carlton Affair," the scandal involves the luxury Carlton Hotel, a Lille establishment that reportedly supplied prostitutes to its guests. Strauss-Kahn’s name has surfaced in connection with text messages discovered during the course of the investigation, which reportedly intensified last week. The prostitution scandal was discovered earlier this year.
"From the moment his name appeared in the so-called ‘Carlton Affair’ on Oct. 9, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he wanted to be heard as fast as possible by the magistrates leading the judicial inquiries,” said his lawyer, Frederique Baulieu. “A month has passed without him being heard, and the media lynching has snowballed during that time.”
An executive from a public works company, who was one of eight people arrested in connection with the scandal, reportedly organized corporate hospitality events that included time with prostitutes. Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, allegedly was present at the events.
In France, prostitution is legal, but organizing prostitution is illegal.
The allegations against Strauss-Kahn, who is Jewish, come in the wake of his arrest in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York in May. The charges were later dropped, but the scandal forced him to resign from the IMF and dashed his hopes of becoming the next president of France.
