Strauss-Kahn claims diplomatic immunity

Lawyers for former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn asked a judge on Monday to dismiss a civil suit filed by a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault, according to Reuters.

Strauss-Kahn was cleared of all criminal charges that he forced Guinean immigrant Nafissatou Diallo to perform oral sex in a New York luxury suite on May 14, but he still faces the civil suit plus a separate allegation by a woman in France.

The motion to dismiss, filed in New York state Supreme Court in the Bronx, where the woman lived, also claimed her “false charges” significantly impaired the International Monetary Fund’s “ability to serve its critical function … at a time of worldwide financial crisis and instability.”

But the central argument asserted the Frenchman was immune from such a suit under international law when it was filed in early August, and lawyers asked the judge to throw the case out in its entirety.

The suit filed by attorney William Taylor, who was also part of Strauss-Kahn’s criminal defense team, argued that his position as IMF managing director granted him diplomatic immunity that extended even after his resignation and until he was free to return to France.