Dominique Strauss-Kahn to face suit by Tristane Banon

French writer Tristane Banon is to file a lawsuit for attempted rape against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, her lawyer says.

The lawyer, David Koubbi, said the suit referred to an incident in 2002 when Ms Banon went to interview Mr Strauss-Kahn in a flat in Paris.


Mr Strauss-Kahn was recently freed from house arrest in New York in a separate alleged sex assault case.

He denies assaulting a hotel maid in the US city on 14 May.

It was shortly after Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York that Ms Banon came forward to say that he had tried to assault her in 2002.

She did not go to the police, but did raise the allegation in a TV chat show in 2007, when Mr Strauss-Kahn's name was bleeped out.

Mr Koubbi said the suit would be filed on Tuesday. He had previously said it would not be filed until Mr Strauss-Kahn's New York trial finished.