Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund and one-time contender for the French presidency, on Monday went on trial for sex charges, the New York Post reported.

Prosecutors accuse Strauss-Kahn of aggravated pimping and involvement in a prostitution ring operating out of luxury hotels, the newspaper detailed.

If convicted, the Socialist politician faces up to 10 years in prison, along with fines of up to $1.7 million. He is one of more than a dozen defendants in the Lille trial, which is scheduled to last three weeks. Also accused are a number of Belgian businessmen and police officers.

Prosecutors have presented hundreds of pages of testimony from prostitutes who claim Strauss-Kahn helped organize orgies at the city's Carlton Hotel. The 65-year-old has admitted taking part in "libertine" activities but denies having known about the transactions. Paying for sex in itself is not illegal in France, though running a prostitution business is, the New York Post explained.

In 2011, Strauss-Kahn was famously accused of assaulting Guinean-born maid Nafissatou Diallo at a New York hotel, but U.S. prosecutors dropped the case three months later because they said the woman had lost credibility over lying about her background and changing her account of what had happened immediately after the incident.

Strauss-Kahn admitted the sexual encounter but claimed it was consensual. He was forced to resign from his IMF position over the scandal. "When the world witnessed live TV images of (Strauss-Kahn) being escorted handcuffed into custody," as Reuters put it, the incident also marked the end of his presidential aspirations.

The former finance minister is now a "political pariah," the Guardian noted, and the new trial threatens to expose his "double life." But his lawyer, Henri Leclerc, said his client was "calm and confident." Strauss-Kahn looked forward to the beginning of the proceedings, so justice could be done, Leclerc claimed.

Having left politics, Strauss-Kahn is pursuing a private-sector career, Reuters noted. He has also separated from his celebrity journalist wife, Anne Sinclair, and met a new partner, the news agency detailed.