Strauss-Kahn Countersues Housekeeper Who Accused Him of Rape Dominique Strauss-Kahn has filed a countersuit against a housekeeper at a Midtown Manhattan hotel who accused him last year of rape, saying her statements about him had damaged his political career. In the lawsuit, which asks for an award of $1 million, Mr. Strauss-Kahn characterized the claims by the hotel employee, Nafissatou Diallo, as baseless accusations that had cost him his job as managing director of the International Monetary Fund and "other professional opportunities." Many political observers in France thought last year that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was best equipped to run as the Socialist Party candidate against the incumbent president, Nicolas Sarkozy. But that perception changed last May after Ms. Diallo accused Mr. Strauss-Kahn of rape. He was arrested at Kennedy International Airport, indicted by a grand jury and photographed coming in and out of court by a horde of photographers. The Socialist nomination ended up going to François Hollande, who defeated Mr. Sarkozy last week and was sworn in on Tuesday. After problems emerged with Ms. Diallo's credibility, the Manhattan district attorney's office asked a judge to dismiss the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn. But a civil suit filed by Ms. Diallo against Mr. Strauss-Kahn in State Supreme Court in the Bronx still stands. On Monday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn filed a reply and counterclaim accusing her of "knowingly and intentionally making a false report to law enforcement authorities." The countersuit was reported on Tuesday by The New York Post. One of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, William W. Taylor III, said in an e-mail on Tuesday that Ms. Diallo was "directly responsible for his being arrested, imprisoned and subjected to extraordinary pain, anguish and expense." Kenneth Thompson, a lawyer for Ms. Diallo countered, "Strauss-Kahn's lawsuit is yet another publicity stunt, smacks of desperation and will be easily defeated." In his court filing, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said that the two had engaged in consensual sex and that she had later tarnished his professional and personal reputation. After being arrested, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was subjected to a "degrading and humiliating strip search," photographed naked and "paraded in front of the international media in handcuffs as part of a "perp walk" intended to humiliate him," the filing said. In recent months Mr. Strauss-Kahn has been charged in France with involvement in a prostitution ring and accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a hotel in Washington in 2010.