The trial of former French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn and several businessmen on pimping charges has shone a light on the world of high-end prostitution in which sex is often used to sweeten business deals.
He is being tried from Monday along with 13 others for their alleged part in a wide-ranging prostitution ring used by local businessmen and police officials. She recalls a car company that wanted to sell three trucks to a local business: "I had to do whatever was necessary to make sure he signed," she said. Eric Dupond-Moretti, a lawyer for one of the defendants in this week's trial, says "call-girls are 80 percent, maybe 70 percent of the time solicited" to conclude business deals.
The practice is particularly prevalent in professions where corruption and bribes are common, said Jean-Sebastien Mallet, an expert on the prostitution sector, highlighting "construction, import-export and the energy sector". Sex can also be used to exert pressure. Carole said she was often sent as a "honeytrap" to seduce men in their hotels, creating the possibility of blackmail down the line.
Most work for networks of brothels or Internet escort companies," said Yves Charpenel, head of anti-prostitution group Fondation Scelles. Monday's trial is not the first high-profile trial for pimping. In , renowned Italian designer Francesco Smalto was convicted after sending a number of suits to Gabon's President Omar Bongo along with a group of call girls.
But getting prosecutions can be difficult, since it tends to rely on prostitutes coming forward as witnesses. Gregoire Thery, from Mouvement du Nid, a support network for sex workers, says the girls giving evidence in this week's trial have faced threats and pressure to back out.
