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. He adds that the common practice of using prostitutes to conclude business deals has an added pernicious effect: creating another obstacle to gender equality in the workplace.
