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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

‘Key’ to DSK’s fight, Dom demands Sofitel room-card records


French horndog Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s legal team has gone into all-out defense mode against the explosive Bronx civil suit he’s facing, new court papers reveal.

Lawyers for the powerful politico have demanded that the tony Sofitel hotel in Midtown -- where a maid accused DSK of trying to rape her on May 14 -- turn over reams of records involving everything from how his housekeeper wound up assigned to clean his suite to the key-card comings and goings of any of the room’s guests even days before the incident.

His lawyers have indicated that the sexual encounter was consensual -- and hinted that their extremely wealthy, infamously randy client may have been set up.

But the hotel scoffed at handing over much of the sought-after documentation, arguing that the defendant’s “vague and ambiguous’’ requests far overreach the law and amount to nothing more than an illegal fishing expedition.

In some cases, DSK’s lawyers already even have what they’re asking for, said outraged Sofitel lawyer Stephen Ryan.

“They seek information that is not relevant to the issues in this civil proceeding or are not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of relevant and admissible information,’’ Ryan said in a written court response obtained yesterday.

Among the records being sought by DSK’s team are:

* All of maid-accuser Nafissatou Diallo’s floor assignments between January and March, including whether she ever previously worked on the 28th floor, where DSK rented a $3,000-a-night suite for one night before the alleged attack.

* Every key-card movement and telephone call, up to three days before the alleged sex attack, to and from both DSK’s Room 2820 and Room 2806, where Diallo says she went to gather her cleaning supplies after the attack.

* Diallo’s electronic trail through her key card as far back as May 7 and through May 12, the day before DSK arrived at the hotel.

In a related development, Diallo’s lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, also has submitted papers disputing DSK’s claim that as the then-head of the International Monetary Fund, he has diplomatic immunity from the potentially multimillion-dollar suit.

Thompson argued that the married former French presidential candidate would have immunity only if the incident occurred while he was acting in official IMF capacity.

The lawyer indicated he has already subpoenaed a slew of people to bolster his case, including workers for Air France, which DSK regularly flies and whose flight attendants DSK has reportedly

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