Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn takes job as bank boss

PARIS (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been named head of an investment firm, marking another step in the business comeback of a man whose career and French presidential hopes were ruined by a sex scandal.

The 64-year-old economist who fronted International Monetary Fund rescues of debt-crushed countries in his time at the helm, was forced to quit the Washington-based public lender in 2011 after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault.

He has since settled a civil case taken by the maid after criminal charges were dropped, but now awaits trial in France over a separate affair where he faces pimping charges over sex parties he attended. He denies wrongdoing.

In a statement published by his public relations aide, the man known to many as DSK said he had been appointed president of an investment firm with operations in finance centres including Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Israel and Romania.

It said the firm founded by French banker Thierry Leyne in 1994 will undergo a name change from the current Anatevka to LSK - Leyne, Strauss-Kahn and Partners. Strauss-Kahn will develop its investment banking and debt-restructuring activities.

Strauss-Kahn has used his IMF experience and reputation as a talented economist to rebuild a career in finance, as an adviser to the governments of Serbia and South Sudan as well as Russian and Moroccan banks.

(Reporting By Brian Love; editing by Mark John)