IMF Chief Used Eliot Spitzer Madam

Kristin Davis, 35, admitted to providing young women for International Monetary Fund chief  Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2006 as he ran for the French Socialists' presidential nomination, and said that one complained about his "aggressive" behavior.

"He was a client of my agency," she said. "When men abuse women, I'm no longer going to protect their identities".

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been charged with sexually attacking a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Manhattan Sofitel on Saturday. He denies the claims and is being held in Rikers Island prison.

Kristen Davis, 35, who has a long list of celebrity clients, said Strauss-Kahn called her directly on her mobile phone and paid $1,200 cash for two-hour sessions in hotel rooms.

"He asked for an 'All-American girl', with a fresh face, from the midwest," she said. "A girl in January 2006 complained he was rough and angry, and said she didn't want to see him again".

In September 2006, Strauss-Kahn travelled to New York for a conference hosted by Bill Clinton. That month Davis, sent Strauss-Kahn a Brazilian-born prostitute who reported that "he was rough", said Davis, adding: "She told me not to send any new girls to him."

Davis was jailed in 2008 for promoting prostitution. She named Eliot Spitzer, who resigned that year over disclosures that he used prostitutes, as one of her clients.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers declined to comment on the allegations. They came as the maid told a New York court of her ordeal and the IMF chief was alleged to have assaulted a maid in Mexico.

The maid, a Guinean widow with a 15-year-old daughter, told a grand jury that the head of the IMF locked her in his suite, violently groped her and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Shapiro, said beforehand that she would explain to the hearing, which took place in secret, that "there is nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room."

"This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman," Shapiro said.

Attorneys for Strauss-Kahn, 62, say forensic evidence from the hotel, near Times Square, will "not be consistent with a forcible encounter", indicating that he will allege she agreed to sex.

He faces seven charges, including attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment and an illegal sex act. His next court hearing is expected on Friday.

A judge at Manhattan's criminal court will be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.

The married father of four filed a request with New York's supreme court to be freed on bail. He offered to waive extradition rights and remain under electronically-monitored home detention 24 hours a day.

He is expected in court for the hearing. on Friday, a judge at Manhattan's criminal court is expected to be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.

Meanwhile press reports in Mexico say that Strauss-Kahn also assaulted a maid in the country while making an official visit there in recent years.

The claim originated in the 2010 French book 'DSK: Secrets of a presidential contender', by an author using the pseudonym Cassandre, who said she had close knowledge of Strauss-Kahn.

The incident in Mexico was not described at any length. It had not been reported to the local authorities, and had gone unpunished. The book has been the source of several allegations of improper behaviour towards women by Strauss-Kahn.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the maid, who has not been named due to the nature of the crimes, lives in a New York City apartment that houses people with HIV and Aids. Shapiro denied she was HIV-positive. 

Brian Blackwell