DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN is reported to be assembling a “crack team” of investigators, former spies and advisers as he prepares to fight back against changes that he sexually assaulted a hotel chambermaid.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was forced to resign earlier this month after he was arrested and charged with attempted rape and other sexual offences against a woman working at a New York hotel.

Reuters reports that his team will face a difficult task as they handle his legal problems in the US while trying to bolster his damaged reputation in France where he had harboured hopes of running as a candidate in the presidential election next year.

The 62-year-old has moved from temporary accommodation near ground zero in New York to more permanent townhouse in the suburb of Manhattan where he is under house arrest as lawyers plot his defence strategy.

The defence team has hired a private investigations firm specialising in criminal cases as well as one of France’s best-connected PR outfits.

A little-known “strategic advisory” firm which boasts two partners who are ex-CIA officers has also reportedly been brought on board.

Strauss-Kahn is being represented by prominent New York criminal lawyer Benjamin Brafman who is heading the legal team.

His former clients include rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and deceased pop star Michael Jackson, as well as high-profile mobsters such as Vincent “The Chin” Gigante and Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, reports The Atlantic.