Lille, France: Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn went on trial on Monday for pimping as part of a prostitution ring, four years after a scandal cost him his job and a shot at the French presidency.

The disgraced 65-year-old economist found himself back in the dock — this time in the northern French city of Lille — accused of being at the center of a vice ring which hired prostitutes in Brussels, Paris and Washington.

A silver-haired Strauss-Kahn, dressed in a dark suit, slipped past a throng of journalists to arrive early in the wood-panelled courtroom, where he paced up and down with his hands in his pockets in front of the imposing stone bench, where over 40 massive files were stacked.

He appeared on edge as he sat, arms folded, while presiding judge Bernard Lemaire read out the charges against him and 13 co-accused, a colorful cast of characters including luxury hotel managers, police, and a brothel owner nicknamed “Dodo the Pimp.”

“You are accused of aiding and abetting the prostitution of seven persons between March 29, 2008 and Oct. 4, 2011, and of hiring and encouraging the prostitution,” Lemaire told Strauss-Kahn.

Procedural applications, such as a request by a lawyer for the former prostitutes involved for hearings to take place behind closed doors, were expected to dominate the first day of the trial. Lurid details of high-end prostitution are likely to emerge in the trial for “aggravated pimping in an organized group,” a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million).

The trial will be the latest in a series of legal woes offering a peek behind the bedroom door of a man once tipped as a potential challenger to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.