Paris ( CNN ) -- A court in France has rejected a bid by lawyers to have charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn dropped over his alleged participation in a prostitution ring , a court official said . The decision of the court in Douai that the investigation -- in what is known in France as the `` Carlton affair '' -- will continue follows a string of criminal cases in which the former chief of the International Monetary Fund had managed to put sexual misconduct claims behind him . A lawyer for Strauss-Kahn , Henri Leclerc , told CNN that the defense planned to appeal the court 's decision . The scandals sidelined the onetime French finance minister 's prospects of becoming France 's next president . Read more : Strauss-Kahn , accuser settle lawsuit . Strauss-Kahn does not deny that he attended sex parties at the Hotel Carlton in the northern city of Lille . But , his lawyers said , he did not know that the young women at the parties were being paid for sex . So , to charge Strauss-Kahn with aggravated pimping is `` unhealthy , sensationalist and not without a political agenda , '' his lawyers argued . But on Wednesday , a court in Douai ruled the charges will stand , said Guillaume Maigret , general secretary of the court . Frederique Baulieu , a lawyer for Strauss-Kahn , told CNN affiliate BFM-TV outside the court that the defense 's request for annulment of the case had been well founded . `` We will continue -- we are certain that Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be cleared of all of the accusations that were made against him , '' she said . `` The one thing I can tell you is that today 's decision is not a judicial victory . '' Read more : Prosecutor drops Strauss-Kahn 'gang rape ' probe . Strauss-Khan , a 63-year-old economist , was widely expected to become the Socialist presidential candidate -- until his professional career imploded with an arrest in New York in May 2011 . A New York hotel housekeeper , Nafissatou Diallo , told police that a naked Strauss-Kahn emerged from a room of his spacious luxury hotel suite and tried to force himself on her , at one point dragging her into the bathroom and trying to remove her underwear . Strauss-Kahn alleged the encounter was consensual , but stepped down from his $ 500,000 job at the IMF . Read more : Police : Strauss-Kahn inquiry includes gang rape allegations . A grand jury indicted him on seven counts , including sexual abuse and attempted rape , but prosecutors later dropped the charges after concluding Diallo had lied about some details of the alleged attack -- despite forensic evidence that showed a sexual encounter had occurred . Diallo then sued Strauss-Kahn . The two sides reached a settlement last week , the details of which have not been disclosed . Earlier , in October , a French prosecutor dropped an investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington . The young Belgian woman whose testimony was the basis for the inquiry withdrew her previous statement and said she would not press charges , leaving the investigation with no grounds to continue , officials said . Strauss-Kahn also faced allegations of attempted rape from a young French writer . Tristane Banon filed a complaint , alleging a 2003 attack . But prosecutors said the case could not be pursued because of a statute of limitations . Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations and has since filed a countersuit in France , alleging slander . CNN 's Niki Cook reported from Paris , and Stephanie Halasz and Laura Smith-Spark from London .
NEW : Dominique Strauss - Kahn will appeal the court ruling , his lawyer says . French court says that probe into Strauss - Kahn will continue . His lawyers say he did n't know that women at sex parties were paid . Earlier this month , he settled a civil suit with a New York hotel owner .