Strauss-Kahn maid sues over prostitution claims

The lawsuit, filed against the Post and five of its journalists, comes after an article that claimed she worked as a prostitute while working at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan.

It goes on to say the maid continued to work as a prostitute while under the protective care of police.

Her lawyers said: “All of these statements are false, have subjected the plaintiff to humiliation, scorn and ridicule throughout the world by falsely portraying her as a prostitute or as a woman who trades her body for money, and they constitute defamation and libel per se.”

The lawsuit says that the reports were published by the Post, even though the newspaper knew they were false or should have known that they were false.

Last week the case against Strauss-Kahn was reported to be close to collapsing, although sex assault charges against him remain.

A series of leaks to New York’s media suggested prosecutors found “major holes” in the credibility of the maid, resulting in the easing of Strauss-Kahn’s bail conditions.

In the latest leak, the New York Times published the account given by the maid to care workers at a rape crisis centre.

The paper said staff at St Luke’s Roosevelt Crime Victim Treatment Centre heard from the maid that Strauss-Kahn had pushed her on to the bed as soon as she entered the room and began repeatedly to assault her.

Susan Xenarios, a director at the centre, said the leak was unprecedented and that she was deeply distressed at how the maid’s patient confidentiality had been compromised.

“I am very concerned that it will have wider ramifications,” she said.

She added that Strauss-Kahn was a person of “extreme international power. I don’t know how that factors in. The whole thing is very disturbing.”

Read more from Channel 4 News's coverage of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair