Lagarde faces up to a year in prison and a $16,000 fine if convicted.
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The Associated Press December 11, 2016, 9:46 PM EST
(PARIS)— Christine Lagarde is taking time off her day job solving the world’s financial crises to face trial Monday, accused of negligence after the French state handed $425 million to a tycoon close to the president in 2008.
The well-respected, silver-haired head of the International Monetary Fund denies wrongdoing in the case, which dates to her time in the French government when she was economy and finance minister.
The trial is due to last until Dec. 20. Lagarde, 60, faces up to a year in prison and a 15,000-euro ($16,000) fine if convicted of negligence. The judges are expected to return a verdict in the wake of the last hearing but they can also announce a ruling at a later date.
Lagarde’s upcoming trial and possible conviction may raise concern about her ability to remain IMF boss. The Washington-based institution’s credibility was already shaken when her predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also a French citizen, was forced to resign amid sexual assault allegations in 2011.
The IMF’s board has so far supported Lagarde at all stages of the French legal proceedings, which began the month after her appointment in July 2011.