The former IMF chief and 12 other defendants were last month ordered to stand trial on charges of "aggravated pimping as part of a group" over an alleged prostitution ring in the northern French city of Lille.
French daily Le Figaro today published extracts from a legal document in which judges probing the case laid out the reasons why they ordered the 64-year-old to face trial.
Magistrates in the affair are examining whether Strauss-Kahn knew that the women involved in the orgies were being paid -- a claim he has always strenuously denied.
The pimping charge against Strauss-Kahn is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up 1.5 million euros USD 2 million).
The so-called "Carlton affair" came to light after Strauss-Kahn resigned from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund over an alleged sexual assault on a New York hotel maid.