DSK Admits ‘Moral Failing’ But Denies Rape Claim
Disgraced banker Dominique Strauss-Kahn broke his silence on French TV and admitted to what he called an “inappropriate relationship” with a Manhattan hotel maid who says he raped her.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, said his May 14 sexual encounter with chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo amounted to “a moral failing of which I am not proud,” several news outlets reported, citing the French interview.
But the former International Monetary Fund boss insisted the sex was consensual, and blasted Diallo for going to the police.
“Her whole story was a lie,” Strauss-Kahn said, the New York Daily News reported. “If the smallest accusation had held, there would have been a prosecution.”
Strauss-Kahn was pulled off a plane to Paris and charged with sexual assault. The case collapsed amid questions about Diallo’s credibiiity.
Diallo’s lawyer ridiculed Strauss-Kahn’s claim that he talked Diallo, 32, into performing sex acts moments after she walked into his room at the Sofitel hotel.
“If he did not sexually assault Nafissatou Diallo in that hotel room, then why is he afraid to describe what happened?” lawyer Kenneth Thompson told the paper.
The banker, who is Jewish, was once considered a front-runner for the French presidency. Since the charges were dismissed, he returned to France and has sought to jump start his political career.
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