French court to deliver verdict against Strauss-Kahn for 'beast-like' orgies

A court in Lille, France, will decide today whether disgraced former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is guilty of charges of "aggravated pimping" and bestial sex-related "recreational sessions".

According to The Guardian, Strauss-Kahn has maintained that he needed these so-called sex recreational sessions to take his mind of from the pressures of trying to save the world from one of its worst financial crises.

Despite his sordid testimony, many expect Strauss-Kahn to be acquitted, citing limited evidence pointing to a punishable crime.

The verdict is the last step in a four year long legal drama that began when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011, killing his French presidential ambitions.

That case was later settled out of court.

Strauss-Kahn, 66, is among more than a dozen other defendants, including hotel managers, entrepreneurs, a lawyer and a police chief, who are accused of participating in or organising collective sexual encounters in Paris, Washington and in the Brussels region in 2008-2011 - when Strauss-Kahn was IMF chief, and married.

Each faces up to 10 years in prison and €1.5 million in fines if convicted.