'IMF chief's economist lover felt coerced'

Piroska M Nagy, an economist who reportedly had an affair with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2008, said that while their liaison was consensual, she felt coerced.

Strauss-Kahn's brief affair with Nagy, a blond Hungarian-born economist who had worked at the IMF since 1986, later became public, spurring an internal investigation at the fund that would ultimately clear him of having abused the power of his office.

Nagy's version of what happened said that the affair was consensual, but that she had felt coerced, The New York Times reported.

A person with direct knowledge of the matter told the Times that Nagy, who was 50 at the time, felt that her claim about abuse of power was not taken into account by the internal board of inquiry.

During the affair, the person said that Nagy couldn't say no because Strauss-Kahn was so much more senior and he was forceful.

At the time, the board ruled that Nagy had not unduly benefitted from the affair and that Strauss-Kahn

had not abused his power. Nagy, however disagreed.

"I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't," she wrote in a letter to the investigators.

In the letter, she went on to say that Strauss-Kahn was 'a man with a problem that may make him ill-equipped to lead an institution where women work under his command.'

Over the weekend, Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting a maid and he is being held without bail. In the aftermath of his arrest, his past conduct is undergoing fresh scrutiny.

Nagy declined to comment, NYT said.

Image: Piroska M Nagy