The Paris prosecutors' office on Friday ordered a preliminary investigation into allegations that former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn attempted to rape a French writer eight years ago, according to media reports.
Tristane Banon, 32, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing Strauss-Kahn of attempting to rape her during an interview for a book at a Paris apartment in February 2003, DPA reported.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, who is fighting sexual assault charges in New York, has described the events related by Banon as "imaginary" and threatened to sue her for defamation.
Neither the prosecutor's office nor Banon's lawyer were immediately available to confirm reports that a police unit responsible for investigating attacks on other persons had been charged with investigating the affair.