Strauss-Kahn Admits to Sex Parties: 'I Was Naive'

Dominique Strauss-Kahn admits he was a libertine who indulged in pricey, Eyes Wide Shut-style sex parties around the world. Oddly enough, that's also his legal defense against charges linking him to a prostitution ring, the New York Times reports. "I long thought that I could lead my life as I wanted," the former IMF head told a French magazine. "And that includes free behavior between consenting adults. ... I was naive." He swears he didn't know that some women at the lavish affairs were prostitutes.

The Times delves into the parties, which businessmen organized for around $13,000 each to get on Strauss-Kahn's good side. After a sit-down dinner, couples would split up and "kisses were exchanged between one woman and another and between a husband and the wife of a friend," said a lawyer involved in the case. Eventually, "all ended up nude." Strauss-Kahn admits his behavior was "out of step with French society," but an anti-sexism advocate says libertinism is nothing new on politics: "It is linked to power, and women are often complicit when it can guarantee them a job." (More Dominique Strauss Kahn stories.)