PARIS — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former chief of the International Monetary Fund, was ordered Friday to stand trial in France on charges linked to his involvement in a prostitution ring prosecutors say was operating in France and in the United States.

Judges in the northern city of Lille, who have been investigating Mr. Strauss-Kahn and a small group of French businessmen and police officials for nearly two years, charged him and 12 others with pimping, or “aggravated procurement in a group.” That charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of 1.5 million euros, or about $2 million.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, whose political career collapsed around a 2011 New York sex scandal and the subsequent flood of sexual misconduct claims against him, has denied any wrongdoing, though he has admitted participating in sex parties in France and Washington. He was not aware, he has said, that the women involved were prostitutes.

“Dominique Strauss-Kahn denies the totality of the deeds of which he is accused,” said Frédérique Baulieu, a lawyer for Mr. Strauss-Kahn. “There was no infraction,” Ms. Baulieu added, noting that a state prosecutor called for the case to be dismissed in June.