Banon's mother then acknowledged she herself had had "rough" but consensual sex with Strauss-Kahn once in an office at the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
By then, tales of orgies allegedly organized by a coterie of followers in northern France to feed Strauss-Kahn's appetites began to surface, culminating in a charge of "aggravated pimping" against him — which he firmly denies. A French court decision on whether that case will go forward is scheduled for Dec. 19.
The defense?
"Dominique Strauss-Kahn had a number of parties with women, libertine parties, with some friends and some women who were friends of his friends" his lawyer, Henri Leclerc, said at a press conference earlier this year.
By then, Strauss-Kahn abandoned a run for the French presidency and saw the helm of the Socialist party taken over by Francois Hollande, a man who has promised to be an uncontroversial "President Normal."
Despite all this, it's possible the French could be in a mood to forgive and forget.
Raphaelle Bacque, a Strauss-Kahn biographer who reported Sinclair's role in the settlement in Le Monde, said the end to the judicial process was one thing but not the only obstacle.
"But how public opinion will interpret the agreement, that's a different question, and one that worries Dominique Strauss-Kahn," she said.
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