DSK ‘claims’ maid’s seductive look at his naked body was proposition

In a new book DSK Affairs: The Second Inquiry, Strauss-Kahn’s biographer says the then head of the International Monetary Fund interpreted her allegedly seductive body language as a proposition.

The one-time French presidential contender has not spoken out on the 14 May encounter, which led US authorities to charge him with attempted rape, and the book is being marketed as his much-anticipated side of the story.

Lawyers for the maid, Nafissatou Diallo immediately dismissed the book – by Michel Taubmann – as “complete fantasy”.

In key excerpts published in Paris Match magazine yesterday – ahead of the book’s publication next Thursday – Taubmann alleges Diallo acted seductively upon bursting in on a naked Strauss-Kahn.

Upon seeing the then IMF leader, she “started walking toward the exit. But she wasn’t in any hurry,” the excerpt reads. “She stares him in the eyes. Then, she looks openly at his genitals.”

The excerpt continues: “The flesh is weak. Dominique Strauss-Kahn saw a proposition. The situation amuses him.

“Rarely in his life has he refused a moment of pleasure. He does not resist the temptation to receive … sex. The act is fast, very fast.”

Diallo’s version of event differs wildly from those described in the book.

She has alleged that Strauss-Kahn violently attacked her when she arrived to clean his suite, forcing her to perform a sex act on him before he quickly left the hotel.

Investigators found physical evidence of this but the criminal case against Strauss-Kahn was dismissed when prosecutors said they had lost faith in Diallo’s credibility.

The excerpts also suggest that Diallo might be behind the alleged theft of Strauss-Kahn’s work BlackBerry.

Taubmann says phone records show Strauss-Kahn last used the phone around the time the incident took place and suggests Diallo was one of a handful of people who could have taken it.

The possible robbery of the phone, Taubmann suggests, might have been part of a political plot to bring down Strauss-Kahn – a Socialist who was then widely seen as the top contender in France’s forthcoming presidential race in April and May.

The book’s excerpts do not contain any direct quotes from Strauss-Kahn, though Taubmann said in an interview with Paris Match that he has met the politician at least six times since the incident, and also had extensive e-mail and phone contact with him.

Taubmann, who has written an earlier biography of Strauss-Kahn, said he also studied phone records and surveillance tapes from the hotel. Strauss-Kahn’s Paris lawyer did not immediately respond to calls seeking confirmation that the politician did indeed collaborate with Taubmann on the book.

Diallo’s lawyers Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor said that the allegations in the book were absurd.

“Strauss Kahn’s absurd claim that Ms Diallo was told to steal his BlackBerry and [she] somehow looked at him seductively and consented to his violent and abusive sexual acts is complete fantasy,” the lawyers said in a brief statement.

“We look forward to questioning him at trial about the sick and deranged acts he committed against Ms Diallo” as part of her pending civil case.

After the criminal charges against him were dropped, Strauss-Kahn returned to France in September.

In his single public appearance since his return – a live interview on TF1 television channel – he acknowledged “moral failings” but did not provide any details about what exactly happened behind the closed doors of the hotel suite.