Paris ( CNN ) -- The former chief of the International Monetary Fund who resigned after being charged two years ago with sexually assaulting a maid in a New York city hotel has lashed out at his treatment by police -- particularly his forced participation in `` the perp walk . '' `` I think it 's a terrible thing , frankly , '' Dominique Strauss-Kahn told CNN 's Richard Quest in his first English- language television interview since he resigned as head of the IMF in 2011 . `` The problem is , it 's a moment where in all European , American society you 're supposed to be innocent , you 're supposed to be innocent until you 're convicted . '' The economist had been widely expected to become France 's Socialist presidential candidate -- until his professional career imploded with his May 2011 arrest . Dominique Strauss-Kahn : Fast Facts . A New York hotel housekeeper , Nafissatou Diallo , told police that Strauss-Kahn emerged naked from a room in his luxury hotel suite as she was cleaning it and tried to force himself on her , dragging her into the bathroom and trying to remove her underwear . Strauss-Kahn 's arraignment was televised and clips played on U.S. and international networks . `` Perp walks , '' in which defendants -- accompanied by police -- walk in front of photographers handcuffed , are standard fare in America . Underscoring the cultural differences between France and the United States , many French recoiled from images of Strauss-Kahn being paraded before the news media in handcuffs and in court -- photographs that would be prohibited under French law to protect the presumption of innocence . `` The perp walk takes place at the moment where you ( are ) supposed to be innocent , '' said Strauss-Kahn , who calls himself DSK . `` You 're just shown to everybody as if you were a criminal , at a moment where nobody knows if it 's true or not -- maybe you 're a criminal , maybe you 're not . That 's going to be proved later on , and so it is just unfair to put people in that way in front of the rest of the world when you just do n't know what they have done . '' Strauss-Kahn said he was angry at his treatment because he did not understand why he had been placed in custody . `` I was just understanding that something was going on that I did n't control , '' he said . Despite his insistence that the encounter was consensual , Strauss-Kahn stepped down from his $ 500,000 job at the IMF . Forensic evidence showed that a sexual encounter had occurred and a grand jury indicted him on seven counts , including sexual abuse and attempted rape , but prosecutors dropped the charges after concluding Diallo had lied about some details of the alleged attack . Diallo then sued Strauss-Kahn in civil court . The two sides settled late last year , though the details have not been disclosed . Strauss-Kahn : A reputation battered by sex allegations . Last October , a French prosecutor dropped an investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington . The Belgian woman whose testimony was the basis for the inquiry withdrew a previous statement and said she would not press charges , leaving the investigation with no grounds to continue , officials said . Strauss-Kahn also faced allegations of attempted rape in 2003 against a French writer , Tristane Banon . But prosecutors said the statute of limitations had passed and the case could not be pursued . The former IMF chief denied the allegations and has since filed a countersuit in France , alleging slander .
`` I think it 's a terrible thing , frankly , '' the former IMF chief tells CNN . `` Perp walks '' are standard fare in the United States . They are not allowed in France .