Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK)

DSK (25 April 1949)

Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn, often referred to in the media as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, and politician, and a member of the French Socialist Party (PS). Strauss-Kahn has been married for the third time to the French journalist Anne Sinclair since 1991. He has four daughters, one of whom is by his second wife, Brigitte Guillemette, whom he married in 1984.

Career

Strauss-Kahn became the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 28 September 2007, with the backing of his country's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and served in that role until his resignation on 18 May 2011.

He is a professor of economics at the Paris Institute for Political Studies. Strauss-Kahn was Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 1999 as part of Lionel Jospin's "Plural Left" government. He belongs to the right wing of the PS and sought the nomination in the primaries to the Socialist presidential candidacy for the 2007 election, but he was defeated by Ségolène Royal in November 2006.

Allegations of sexual assault

In May 2011, Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York City and charged with the sexual assault of a housekeeper who entered his Sofitel hotel suite, but all charges were later dismissed at the request of the prosecution. Strauss-Kahn entered a plea of not guilty, and denied all charges. The New York District Attorney moved to withdraw the charges on 22 August 2011, due to the unreliability of the complainant and inconclusive physical evidence, and the court agreed.