Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted a housekeeper in a “violent and sadistic attack” in his hotel suite in Manhattan in May, a civil lawsuit filed on Monday alleges. The lawsuit, which follows criminal charges against the Frenchman, repeats the version of events that Nafissatou Diallo, the woman who accused him, has told since she revealed her identity in media interviews last month. She said a naked Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom in his $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel Hotel on May 14 and forced her to perform oral sex.
“Believing he was immune from the laws of this country, defendant Strauss-Kahn intentionally, brutally and violently sexually assaulted Ms. Diallo and in the process humiliated, degraded, violated and robbed Ms. Diallo of her dignity as a woman,” according to the the complaint.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, has denied the allegations and his lawyers said in a statement that the civil case showed Diallo was motivated by money. The civil lawsuit, which does not seek specific damages, says Diallo will give evidence that the man once considered a leading contender for the French presidency harassed and assaulted other women in the past.
