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The verdict came
four years after sex assault accusations by a New York hotel
maid ended his political ambitions and forced him to step down
as head of the International Monetary Fund.
Strauss-Kahn's acquittal by a court in the northern city of
Lille on charges of procuring prostitutes -- exposing him to the
risk of a 10-year jail sentence -- marked the final episode of
legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic.
The 66-year-old, who settled financially with Sofitel maid
Nafissatou Diallo after New York prosecutors abandoned criminal
charges in 2011, stood accused in France of instigating the
organization of orgies with prostitutes.
"He cannot be attributed the role of instigator," judge Bernard
Lemaire said when reading out a verdict in the presence of
Strauss-Kahn and 13 others. "He just availed of the sexual
services of a group."
Strauss-Kahn and his lawyers had argued that he has an appetite
for rough sex but was not aware that women he frolicked with at
parties and hotels in Paris, Lille and Washington, mostly while
in the powerful IMF post, were prostitutes.
(Editing by Catherine Evans)
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