Prosecutor wants charges dropped in DSK probe

(AP) PARIS - French prosecutors are seeking to drop all charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief, in a case involving an alleged hotel prostitution ring.

The prosecutor’s office in the northern city of Lille, where the case is based, said on Tuesday there is not enough evidence to maintain charges of aggravated pimping against Strauss-Kahn.

A panel of investigating judges will make the final decision in the case, which put Strauss-Kahn back in the spotlight after his arrest in New York in May 2011 based on allegations by a Manhattan hotel maid that he had sexually assaulted her. He resigned as IMF chief before those charges were dropped.

A lawyer for Strauss-Kahn, Henri Leclerc, said Tuesday’s announcement shows the weakness of the current case against his client.

The decision by the prosecutor’s office followed a "deep and meticulous analysis" of the 33 files that form the case, a statement said.

Prosecutors are asking that a dozen other people go to trial in the case centered on an alleged prostitution ring working out of a luxury hotel in Lille. However, they are asking that charges that the group acted as part of an "organized band" in a criminal association also be dropped.

Strauss-Kahn, 64, must wait to see if the prosecutors’ request is accepted. However, it is already good news for the one-time French presidential hopeful whose lifestyle came under scrutiny by France and the world and left his career as a high-profile economist in ruins.

The case in Lille hinges on whether he knew he was partying with prostitutes and whose money was used to pay them. His lawyers have said Strauss-Kahn had attended "libertine" gatherings but didn’t know that some women there were paid.