Maid 'laid' low as DA paid for digs

She was turning tricks on the taxpayers' dime!

The Sofitel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of a sex attack in his suite wasn't just a hotel hooker -- she continued to work as a prostitute in a Brooklyn hotel where she was stashed by prosecutors, The Post has learned.

The so-called victim, whose web of lies has crippled the Manhattan DA's case against the former International Monetary Fund boss, played host to a parade of paying male visitors in the weeks after Strauss-Kahn's arrest, a prosecution source said.

"While she was under our supervision, there were multiple 'dates' and encounters at the hotel on the DA's dime," the source said of her paid hotel room. "That's a great deal for her. She doesn't have to cover her expenses."

The woman has a regular fleet of gentlemen callers who range from wealthy clients she met at the Sofitel to counterfeit-merchandise hawkers and livery-cab drivers, said sources close to the defense investigation.

Some of her clients also gave her pricey jewelry, the source said.

Nothing happened in the first two weeks of her stay at the hotel, when she was under around-the-clock supervision provided by the DA's Office, said a law-enforcement source.

Prosecutors were apparently worried about the woman's emotional state and that reporters knew where she lived.

There was an additional concern that DSK representatives might try to bribe her or that she might get cold feet. And because she couldn't go home, they decided that having her stay in a hotel under their watch was the best way to keep her safe and secure her cooperation.

But starting about June 1, the arrangement changed -- she was dropped off and picked up when prosecutors needed her but was otherwise free to do as she pleased, the source said.

It's unclear how many encounters took place, the source said.

The woman is still being housed by the DA's Office but it's unclear if it's the same location or how much money has been spent to house her, the source said.

"I can't say with 100% certainty that it's not true," a senior prosecutor said about whether the woman was turning tricks while at the hotel.

Also, The DA suspects that the $100,000 she deposited into her accounts over the last few years included proceeds from sex-for-money exploits, said another prosecution source.

(Published by NY Post - July 3, 2011)