Bank partner dies just days after DSK leaves

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF managing director, left as chairman of a Luxembourg bank daysbefore his partner died.

Strauss-Kahn, 65, gave up the chairmanship at Leyne, Strauss-Kahn, & Partners on October 20 “to dedicate himself to other activities”, the firm said in an email yesterday. His partner, Thierry Leyne, fell from a building to his death in Tel Aviv on October 23. Le Figaro newspaper reported that he committed suicide.

Strauss-Kahn bought a 20% stake in Leyne’s investment-banking and asset-management company last year as part of an effort to rebuild his post-IMF life after a scandal dashed his chance to run for the French presidency. LSK & Partnerssaid in March it planned to use Strauss-Kahn’s economic and political knowledge to help start a $2bn (€1.5bn) hedge fund.

Strauss-Kahn “desired to give a structure” to his consultant and advisory missions, Leyne said in a September 2013 interview with Bloomberg News.

LSK & Partners shares were halted in Paris on October 23, after falling 59% in 2014. Assya Asset Management Luxembourg, a unit of LSK & Partners, filed a suspension of payments request on October 24 to a local court, Luxembourg’s financial supervisor said yesterday.

Strauss-Kahn was charged in 2011 with criminal sex, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and the forcible touching of a chambermaid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan. Strauss-Kahn denied the charges, which were later dropped. He settled the maid’s lawsuit in 2012.

Leyne, 49, built his career as a financial-services entrepreneur in France, Israel. and Luxembourg over two decades, including three initial public offerings.

The board of LSK & Partners met yesterday and appointed Michel Jollant as chairman. Leyne had assumed the role last week. He died after falling from a high floor of Tel Aviv’s Yoo towers. Israeli police ruled out criminal activity related to the death.