HE HAS grown a beard and spends his days cloistered in a Paris apartment, his supporters having moved on and his chances of rehabilitation looking slimmer than ever.
Six months to the day since Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in New York, an event that ended his term as managing director of the IMF and his hopes of becoming France’s next president, the former finance minister’s troubles continue to pile up.
He and his wife, Anne Sinclair, said yesterday they would lodge a formal complaint for invasion of privacy following a series of weekend reports about their marriage and his frame of mind.
The articles showed “the most detestable voyeurism” and served no public interest, the couple’s lawyers said in a statement.
Some of the reports related to a judicial investigation into the so-called Carlton affair, an alleged prostitution ring run from a luxury hotel of that name in the northern city of Lille. Leaks from the judicial investigation have linked Mr Strauss-Kahn to the case, prompting him to complain last week of a “media lynching” and to ask prosecutors to speak to him as soon as possible.
The collapse of the case against him over the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York, followed by a Paris prosecutor’s decision not to pursue separate claims of attempted rape by a French writer, were widely believed to have cleared the path for Mr Strauss-Kahn to rebuild his career.
That was before the Carlton saga widened with the arrest of eight people – including several managers at the hotel, businessmen and a local police commissioner – who are now under official inquiry on suspicion of organising prostitution.
Among them is an executive from a public works company who told investigators he organised corporate hospitality events that included time with prostitutes and where Mr Strauss-Kahn was present.
Further reports, based on suggestive text messages, have in recent days intensified the pressure on Mr Strauss-Kahn, prompting his decision to issue a public statement and again demand a hearing with investigators.
“I even wonder if all this is not politically motivated,” his lawyer, Henri Leclerc, told French radio.
“Enough is enough. If Mr Strauss-Kahn is being accused of something let it be said.”
Unlike organising prostitution, availing of the services of a prostitute is not illegal in France.
But the new claims look to have finished off any chance of Mr Strauss-Kahn reviving his career any time soon. A stream of media reports in recent days suggests he has been abandoned by loyal friends and supporters and that his marriage to Ms Sinclair is in trouble.
In their statement yesterday, however, the couple’s lawyers accused the media of “fantasising in particular about the alleged intentions or frames of mind of Anne Sinclair or of Dominique Strauss-Kahn under the hypothetical cover of statements by third parties courageously hiding behind anonymity”.
Although the criminal charges against Mr Strauss-Kahn over his sexual encounter with a New York hotel maid were dropped in August, he still faces a civil action in the US. His lawyers have sought to have the case dismissed by claiming the then-IMF chief had diplomatic immunity.