French writer Tristane Banonclaims the IMF chief acted like a 'rutting chimpanzee' in an attack on her nine years ago
A French writer who claims Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her nine years ago is to file an official complaint, her lawyer has announced.
Tristane Banon previously described the attack, which happened when she was in her early 20s, in a television programme in 2007, when she called Strauss-Kahn, whose name was bleeped out, a "rutting chimpanzee."
She says she consulted a lawyer at the time, but was persuaded not to take actionby her mother, a regional councillor in the Socialist party and friend of the Strauss-Kahn family. Banon isgoddaughter to Strauss-Kahn's second wife.
Banon's lawyer, David Koubbi, said: "We are planning to make a complaint. I am working withher."
Strauss-Kahn was remanded in custody today after appearing in a New York court accused of a sexual attack on a hotel maid.
The 62-year-old head of the International Monetary Fund – who was widely tipped to be France's next president – was refused bail by the judge, Melissa Jackson, who ruled he might attempt to flee the US. His offer to post bail of one million dollars was turned down.
DSK, as he is known in France, will now stay in prison until his next court hearing on May 20. He faces charges of attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching and could face up to 25 years in prison.
Strauss-Kahn denies the charges.
Koubbi said Banon, now 31, was "literally blown over" when she heard the claims Strauss-Kahn had attacked a hotel chambermaid in New York. "At the same time, she was certainly not surprised," he said.
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Tristane Banon was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France on 13 June 1979.Banon earned a diploma from the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris in 2000, and initially worked in casual jobs as a journalist, as an anchorwoman on a television show about new information and communication technologies, and as a sport journalist. She was employed in the politics department, and later the cultural department, of the French weekly Paris-Match, then worked at the daily newspaper Le Figaro.
