An appeals court in France refused to drop prostitution-related claims against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, which means his legal troubles are not yet finished after more than a year of sexual scandals. No explanation was given for the decision, but it will allow the investigation to continue in pursuit of allegations that Strauss-Kahn and eight other individuals hired prostitutes to participate in sex parties at a hotel in Lille, France. Strauss-Kahn has admitted to taking part in the parties, but insisted he didn't know the women involved were prostitutes.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers had asked for the dismissal in the hopes of finally putting an end to the sexually-related legal problems that had forced him to resign from his position as head of the International Monetary Fund and scuttled any talk of him becoming the next president of France. Back in October, prosecutors decided not to bring charges following an accusation of rape that emerged from a different "libertine" party at a hotel in Washington, DC. Earlier this month, he also quietly settled a civil lawsuit brought by the maid who had accused him of raping her in a New York hotel room. In that case, criminal charges were dropped by New York prosecutors who said that there were too many inconsistencies in the woman's story. Today's decision leaves only the "aggravated pimping" charge as his last remaining legal challenge.

It was that claim from the New York hotel maid that first pushed DSK's lascivious lifestyle in the spotlight (and effectively ended his political career), but so far no criminal charges have actually stuck to him. 

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Dashiell Bennett