Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be tried in France on pimping charges, prosecutors said on Friday, after a long inquiry into sex parties attended by the man whose presidential hopes were dashed by a separate 2011 U.S. sex scandal.

Investigating judges in the case determined that Strauss-Kahn, 64, should be judged by a criminal court over allegations he was complicit in a pimping operation involving prostitutes at the Carlton hotel in the northern city of Lille.

The decision came as a surprise after a public prosecutor had recommended in June that the inquiry be dropped without trial.

The so-called Carlton affair involved sex parties that Strauss-Kahn has acknowledged attending although he says he was unaware that the women who participated were prostitutes.

Under French law, pimping is a broad crime that encompasses aiding or encouraging prostitution.

Because the parties allegedly involved several prostitutes, Strauss-Kahn will stand trial on the more serious charge of “aggravated pimping”, which carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a 1.5 million euros (1.3 million pounds) fine.

The former French finance minister quit his post as head of the International Monetary Fund in 2011 after being accused of sexually assaulting a maid in New York, a charge that was later dropped.