Dominique Strauss-Kahn, once among the most powerful men in the world, appeared in a French court Monday to stand trial for accusations of participating in an international prostitution ring.
Charged with "aggravated pimping as part of a group," the former head of the International Monetary Fund is accused of hiring hookers for sex parties at luxury hotels in France and Washington, according to ABC News.
The French economist could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to 1.5 million euro ($1.7 million), reported The Associated Press. More than a dozen other French and Belgian businessmen and police officers are also being charged in the case.
Strauss-Kahn isn't expected to testify until Feb. 10, and the trial is scheduled to last three weeks.
Investigators compiled hundreds of pages of testimony from prostitutes describing how the 65-year-old Straus-Kahn and his co-defendants organized orgies, according to AP.
Strauss-Kahn admits that he did attend sex parties, but claims he was unaware that the women involved were paid prostitutes, describing the charges as "dangerous and malicious insinuations and extrapolations," The Independent reported.
French law does not prohibit paying for sex, however it is against the law to run a prostitution business.
Strauss-Kahn, who was the head of the Washington-based IMF between 2007 and 2011, was accused in 2011 of sexually assaulting a maid in New York. He was arrested while on an Air France flight about to depart from JFK International Airport and jailed for four days. Prior to that incident, Strauss-Kahn was on the path to becoming the French Socialist party's presidential candidate.
The maid accused Strauss-Kahn of forcing her to perform oral sex and attempting to rape her after she arrived to clean his suite at the Hotel Sofitel.
New York prosecutors dropped the case because they said the maid had lost her credibility by lying about her background and changing her story.
The sexual encounter was consensual according to Strauss-Kahn, who called the incident a "moral failing," AP reported.