Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been described as a "brutal" lover by one former romantic partner. On Sunday, another former partner described his amorous side as "more passionate than violent," according to the New York Post, which based its report on an interview with the Swiss magazine L'Illustre. The magazine story stems from a phone call between Kenneth Thompson, the lawyer for Strauss-Kahn's New York accuser Nafissatou Diallo, and a woman identified as Marie-Victorine M., a legal consultant in California who carried on an affair with Strauss-Kahn when she was a law student in 1993. "DSK, as he was called even then, was the Socialist mayor of Sarcelles, a town north of Paris with large immigrant communities, and M’s Congolese-born father was active in the Socialist Party," reported The Daily Beast. Thompson reportedly called M to find out if Strauss-Kahn had been violent with her, but M defended her former lover. The Post pointed to her claim that her own testimony would likely help Strauss-Kahn's defense more than the prosecution, as she explained how the former International Monetary Fund director was "brusque" but not violent. "Dominique is not the kind of man who needs to force himself . . . He uses charm, definitely, but not force," she said. She also opined on the nature of Strauss-Kahn and Diallo's encounter: "I think that there was a relationship between them, a forced relationship," she said, "I don't know if he raped her . . . Dominique took me sometimes in a very brusque manner, but for me it was about passion, not about brutality."

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Adam Martin