Former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has filed a $1-million countersuit against a hotel maid who accused him in a civil court of sexually assaulting her last year, her lawyer said Tuesday.
Douglas Wigdor said the countersuit was a "desperate ploy," predicting that the court handling the civil case would swiftly reject it.
Earlier this month, the district court in the Bronx, a New York City borough, decided that Strauss-Kahn could not claim diplomatic immunity and should face the charges of committing sexual assault
against Nafissatour Diallo at a Manhattan hotel in May 2011.
Strauss-Kahn was head of the International Monetary Fund at the
time.
In the countersuit, Strauss-Kahn said Diallo had made a "malicious and wanton false accusation" when she accused him of assaulting her in the Sofitel Hotel room where she worked as a housekeeper.
A US prosecutor dropped all criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn in August. Diallo's lawyers then filed a civil suit against the French politician in the Bronx court.
In addition to the civil suit in New York, Strauss-Kahn is facing other charges lodged against him in France involving a prostitution ring.
