Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser sues New York Post for report saying she is a hooker

The Midtown hotel maid who accused French bigwig Dominique Strauss-Kahn of a vicious sexual assault sued the New York Post on Tuesday for reporting she was a hooker.

The defamation lawsuit, filed in the Bronx, was the accuser's angry response to a pair of Post stories calling her a prostitute whose hotel room encounter was Strauss-Kahn was a sex for money deal.

"All of these statements are false, have subjected the plaintiff to humiliation, scorn and ridicule throughout the world by falsely portraying her as a prostitute," said the suit.

The 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea was seeking unspecified damages for the Post reports. The suit alleged the stories were written "in a desperate attempt to bolster \[the Post's\] rapidly plunging sales."

A spokeswoman for the tabloid said the newspaper stands by its reporting, which the lawsuit ripped as "malicious" and showing "a reckless disregard" for the woman's rights."

Five Post reporters were also named in the suit.

The 16-page lawsuit filed in the woman's home borough came as a French novelist officially filed an attempted rape charge against Strauss-Kahn in their homeland.

Tristane Banon's allegations stem from a 2003 interview where the resigned International Monetary Fund boss groped her during a 2003 interview.

She later described the French politician as a "rutting chimpanzee," and recounted kicking and punching Strauss-Kahn as he pawed at her.

Her criminal complaint was mailed to Paris prosecutors, said her attorney, David Koubbi.

The frisky Frenchman's attorneys, in a statement, said the charges by Banon were imaginary and opportunistic given that "the deceitful nature of the allegations he faces in the U.S. is no longer in any doubt."

In New York, Strauss-Kahn remained free on bail after his accuser's credibility came under assault last week. Prosecutors admitting at a Friday hearing that the maid's history of lying had undermined their case.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was released after the woman's past lies were made public.

Despite indications that the case was collapsing, her lawyer has insisted the sexual assault inside the Sofitel hotel did occur and prosecutors have yet to drop the charges.