(Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)

The episode in a New York City hotel that ended the career of former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn began with what his biographer calls a “suggestive look.”

In the first published account from Strauss-Kahn’s perspective, Affaires DSK: The Second Inquiry, author Michael Taubman says when Strauss-Kahn emerged from the shower naked Nafissatou Diallo, a Sofitel maid, gave him a “suggestive look” which he took as an “invitation for sex.”  He also says she stole his IMF-issued blackberry as she left the room.

Diallo’s lawyers, Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor, reject DSK’s version.

“Strauss Kahn’s absurd claim that Ms. Diallo was told to steal his Blackberry and somehow looked at him seductively and consented to his violent and abusive sexual acts is complete fantasy,” they said in a statement, adding they “look forward to questioning him at trial about the sick and deranged acts he committed against Ms. Diallo.”

She is pursuing a civil lawsuit even though criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn were dropped by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.

In the book, Strauss-Kahn describes the six-minute encounter that occurred on May 14 with Diallo as “consensual but stupid.”  He also alleges it was part of a smear campaign to ruin his chances of running for the French presidency.  He abandoned his presidential bid but his attorneys never used the political excuse as part of their defense.