Story highlights
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is filing a countersuit for at least $1 million against his accuser
In court papers filed Monday, he calls the accusation "malicious"
The initial assault case was dismissed; Strauss-Kahn still faces a civil suit from Diallo
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, is filing a countersuit for at least $1 million against the Manhattan maid who accused him of sexual assault.
In court papers filed Monday, he called the accusation “malicious” after it resulted in his imprisonment at New York’s Riker’s Island, his subsequent house arrest, as well as the loss of his employment at the IMF “and other professional opportunities.”
Once considered a leading candidate for the French presidency, Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the IMF soon after his arrest by New York police in May 2011, when he was charged with criminally assaulting Nafissatou Diallo.
Police removed him from an Air France flight that was about to depart New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and jailed him before his arraignment in criminal court.
Investigators later uncovered forensic evidence of a sexual encounter between Strauss-Kahn and Diallo.
The former IMF chief’s attorneys said a consensual sexual encounter did take place with the maid, but insisted no force was involved.
The case was later dismissed after prosecutors expressed doubts about Diallo’s credibility, though Strauss-Kahn still faces a civil suit from Diallo.
“In my view, this is just a public relations move,” Diallo’s attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, said about the countersuit. “This is his way, in my view, of making what he perceives to be good press.”
Earlier this month, a New York judge rejected Strauss-Kahn claims that a civil lawsuit against him should be dismissed because he was protected by diplomatic immunity.