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Mosley faces confidence vote over orgy claims

  • Story Highlights
  • FIA boss Max Mosley faces confidence vote over sex scandal claims
  • Judge says material is already too widely accessible to prevent publication
  • Footage is 'intrusive and demeaning' but the 'dam has effectively burst'
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Max Mosley, the embattled leader of world motor sport, will face a vote of confidence when its governing body meets in Paris on June 3.

Max Mosley, the FIA president, is fighting to keep his position after recent newspaper allegations.

Mosley, the FIA's president, had called for an extraordinary meeting after the News of the World published an expose on his sex life, alleging he took part in an orgy with Nazi overtones.

In a statement, the FIA said its members had agreed to a June 3 meeting and that a vote of confidence would be held by secret ballot.

The announcement of the meeting came Wednesday, soon after a High Court in London declined to grant an injunction preventing the screening of a 90-second extract of an "intrusive and demeaning" video featuring Mosley.

Justice Eady said that the alleged events featuring Mosley had already received worldwide coverage in newspapers and on various Web sites, the Press Association reported.

"I have come to the conclusion that the material is so widely accessible that an order in the terms sought would make very little practical difference," Eady said.

"One may express this conclusion either by saying that Mr Mosley no longer has any reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of this now widely familiar material or that, even if he has, it has entered the public domain to the extent that there is, in practical terms, no longer anything which the law can protect. The dam has effectively burst," the Press Association reported Eady as saying.

Eady said he made the decision with "some reluctance."

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"Although this material is intrusive and demeaning, and despite the fact that there is no legitimate public interest in its further publication, the granting of an order against this respondent [the News of the World] at the present juncture would merely be a futile gesture," the Press Association reported Eady as adding.

He said the footage was "very brief, containing shots of Mr Mosley taking part in sexual activities with five prostitutes, and it also covers the tea break."

Eady said Mosley not dispute that the events happened, but believed they were private, and denied the newspaper's characterization of it being a "Nazi role-play," the Press Association reported.

Mosley, who was not in court, is pursuing a claim for breach of privacy against the newspaper, with a five-day trial expected in July.

The 67-year-old has rejected calls to step down, writing a letter to FIA officials saying he was embarrassed by what the newspaper reported but said there was no "Nazi connotation to the matter."

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A number of leading teams and motor sport associations have demanded he resign, including the powerful U.S. and German clubs.

New Zealand's Automobile Association is the latest to snub Mosley, the group retracting an invitation for the Briton to attend a summit on transport and the environment in June. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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