The woman who alleges possible French presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in a hotel penthouse filed a libel lawsuit Tuesday against a New York newspaper which reported she was a prostitute.

The unidentified housekeeper claims she was subjected to "ridicule throughout the world" in front page articles in the New York Post which ran under headlines such as “DSK Maid a Hooker” and “DSK ‘Refused to Pay’ Hooker Maid for Sex”.

Her suit states that the articles subjected her to shame, scorn, humiliation, embarrassment, emotional injury, loss of standing and self-esteem, public disgrace, and extreme emotional distress.

It also says The Post either deliberately lied or should have known that the allegation of prostitution was false.

The articles were nothing more than an "apparent desperate attempt to bolster its rapidly plunging sales," the suit says, according to The New York Times.

It also names five New York Post reporters and claims unspecified damages.

CNN quoted an unnamed source close to the investigation as saying that so far, "no evidence has been found that she is a prostitute."

Former International Monetary Fund chief Strauss-Kahn, 62, was freed on bail after prosecutors questioned the honesty of the housemaid who says he sexually abused her in a $3,000 a night suite at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on May 14.

The man many saw as the most likely challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy to become the next French president denies that he forced the 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea to give him oral sex.

The case against him is reportedly close to collapse after prosecutors said Friday the woman had repeatedly lied to them about her background.

Meanwhile, Strauss-Kahn is facing new and separate accusations of attempted rape in France, relating to an incident in 2003.

Writer Tristane Banon has accused the potential Socialist party presidential candidate of attempting to sexually assault her in Paris in 2003.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers in France have threatened to counter-sue Banon for defamation.