French prosecutor drops Strauss-Kahn ‘gang rape’ probe

A French prosecutor dropped an investigation Tuesday into former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s connection to a possible gang rape in Washington.

The young Belgian woman whose testimony was the basis for the inquiry has withdrawn her previous statement and said she will not press charges, a statement from the Lille prosecutor’s office said.

Strauss-Kahn: A reputation battered by sex allegations

This meant the inquiry had no grounds to continue, the statement said.

Strauss-Kahn remains under investigation over allegations that he participated in a prostitution ring, in what is known in France as the “Carlton affair.”

He has denied wrongdoing and has not been convicted of a crime.

Police investigating the alleged prostitution ring referred the Washington incident, which they believed could qualify as gang rape, to the Lille prosecutor earlier this year after hearing the testimony of the Belgian woman.

But the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that the Belgian woman’s lawyer had stated in August that his client did not want to give any judicial statement on this matter.

Can France handle truth on sex lives of rich and powerful?

The woman also wrote a letter to the prosecutor in which she said she had been consenting, and that she would not press charges.

She had not filed a complaint when she was questioned by French and Belgian investigators late last year.

“Given all these elements, the offense of rape could not be made, and the Lille prosecution decided to proceed no further with the case, on the ground of ‘no offense’,” the statement from the prosecutor’s office said.

The former IMF chief hit the headlines in the United States last year over a separate case involving attempted rape allegations in New York. The judge dismissed all the charges against him after the witness’s credibility was thrown into doubt.

CNN’s Sybile Penhirin contributed to this report.