Strauss-Kahn says ‘sex life’ was ‘out of step’ but not ‘illegal’

Paris - More than a year after resigning in disgrace as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is seeking redemption with a new consulting company, the lecture circuit and a uniquely French legal defense to settle a criminal investigation that exposed his hidden life as a libertine.

He is seeking to throw out criminal charges in an inquiry into ties to a prostitution ring in northern France with the legal argument that the authorities are unfairly trying to “criminalize lust.”

 According to the New York Times, in France, ‘Libertinage’ has a long history in the culture, dating from a 16th-century religious sect of libertines.

But the most perplexing question in the Strauss-Kahn affair is how a career politician with ambition to lead one of Europe’s most powerful nations was blinded to the possibility that his zest for sex parties could present a liability, or risk blackmail, the report said.

 According to the report, the exclusive orgies called ‘parties fines’ were organized as a roving international circuit from Paris to Washington by businessmen seeking to ingratiate themselves with Strauss-Kahn.

Some of that money, according to a lawyer for the main host, ultimately paid for prostitutes because of a shortage of women at the mixed soirees orchestrated largely for the benefit of Strauss-Kahn, who sometimes sought sex with three or four women, the report said.

Strauss-Kahn broke a long silence to acknowledge that perhaps his double life as an unrestrained libertine was a little outré.

 â€œI long thought that I could lead my life as I wanted,” he said.

“And that includes free behavior between consenting adults. There are numerous parties that exist like this in Paris, and you would be surprised to encounter certain people. I was naïve,” he added.

 â€œI was too out of step with French society,” he said, adding: “I was wrong.”