'Uninhibited' sex life cost me chance to lead France - Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn. File photo / AP

The former head of the International Monetary Fund believes his 'uninhibited' sex life cost him his chance to become president of France.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn denies paying to sleep with prostitutes but admits attending 'sex parties' in a biography released yesterday that explores the allegations of attempted rape that effectively ended his political career.

The 62-year-old, who admits that his 'flesh is weak', says he deeply regrets his sexual encounter with a maid at the Sofitel hotel in New York, which led to his arrest on May 14.

'Nothing would have happened if I hadn't had this consensual, but stupid, relationship with Nafissatou Diallo,' said Mr Strauss-Kahn, referring to the 32-year-old Guinean who claimed to have been attacked.

'That day, I opened the door to all the other affairs.'

Prosecutors eventually dropped all criminal charges in August, but Miss Diallo has pursued a civil case.

The Frenchman was also investigated over the attempted rape of writer Tristane Banon, now 32, in 2001. In October, prosecutors said there was clear evidence that Mr Strauss-Kahn had sexually assaulted Miss Banon, but it had been too long ago for legal action to be taken.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who was the favourite Socialist candidate to defeat Nicolas Sarkozy in France's elections next year, says: 'I could have been in a position to be president. Now, I'm no longer in that position, that's all.'

Mr Strauss-Kahn admits to an 'uninhibited sex life', but says this is not 'illegal' nor 'unusual', especially in France, where politicians are notoriously promiscuous.

Biographer Michel Taubmann also uses DSK's Affairs - The Counter Enquiry to explore fresh accusations that Mr Strauss-Kahn was involved in an illegal prostitution racket based at the Carlton hotel in Lille, northern France.

Responding to claims that he regularly attended orgies in France and the U.S., Mr Strauss-Kahn said: 'In the Press, they link my name to prostitution.

'It's unbearable. I did go to sex parties, it's true, but usually those who came to these
events were not prostitutes.'

He adds: 'I have a horror of prostitution and pimping. Can you imagine the damage caused to my wife, our children?'

Mr Strauss-Kahn said he was keen to meet prosecutors so he could clear his name of 'dangerous and malicious insinuations' connected to the Carlton Affair.

The book also touches on recent claims that Strauss-Kahn was 'set up' in New York by his political opponents.

His biographer refers to 'the French secret service' knowing what was going on, and suggests that Mr Strauss-Kahn's BlackBerry - which was thought to have been hacked before going missing - could have been stolen by Miss Diallo and a 'mystery' second man.

The conspiracy theory surfaced over the weekend in an investigative report by U.S. journalist Edward Epstein based on information provided by Mr Strauss-Kahn's defence lawyers.

It was dismissed by Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP party as nothing more than 'an obvious manipulation'.

Before the Sofitel incident, Mr Strauss-Kahn had been warned by a French diplomat friend that an effort would be made to embarrass him with a scandal. However, Taubmann confirms that Mr Strauss-Kahn could not 'resist the temptation'.

Mr Strauss-Kahn claims Miss Diallo 'gazed' at his naked body when he came out of the shower - and he saw this as a proposition.

Accordingly he 'agreed' to allow her to perform a sex act, even though Miss Diallo was in fact plotting to steal his BlackBerry, he alleges.

Lawyers for Miss Diallo attacked the book as 'complete fantasy'.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is currently living in Paris with his third wife, former TV presenter Anne Sinclair, who has supported him throughout the recent scandals.