DSK's wife to run French HuffPost

Anne Sinclair rumored to become "boss-lady" at Le HuffPost

Talking about bouncing back from the depth of scandal? Anne Sinclair, former political journalist, French TV personality, but most recently better known for being the wife of Dominic Strauss Kahn is rumored to have been offered the role of “Boss Lady” by Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief and founder of the Huffington Post, at Le HuffPost,the soon-to-be launched French version of the newsmagazine.

Ever since the announcement of a French version of the Huffington Post was made in Paris on October 10, by Louis Dreyfus, CEO of Le Monde, Matthieu Pigasse, owner and Chairman of LNEI, and Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, questions have been circulating around on who would hold the prestigious job of daily operations, and/or Editor-in-Chief.

If the rumors coming from Paris are true, Sinclair is not in the race for the post of Editor-in-Chief, but has already been chosen to run the daily operations of the newsmagazine. Pierre Haski, journalist and founder of the popular news site rue 89, has reported that Arianna Huffington met this past week with two potential candidates for the role of Editor-in-Chief, but is leaning toward Sinclair to run the daily show.

Unknown outside of France, but quite a celebrity back home, Sinclair had given up her very successful journalistic career to support her husband’s political ambition, leading up, until recently all the way to the French presidency.  

This dream was squashed this May, when he was forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following accusations of sexually assaulting New York city’s Sofitel chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo. The charges were later dropped.  

But new ones awaited him upon his return to France. Filed by Tristane Banon, a novelist and the daughter of a prominent member of the French Socialist Party, Banon has long claimed to have been raped by him in 2003, while she was conducting an interview, but did not file a complaint until June of this year. Those charges were also dropped, but in her case, only because of a statute of limitations.  French authorities stated that  Strauss-Kahn may have faced charges for sexual assault, had not the shorter statute of limitations of three years for sexual assault, compared to 10 for attempted rape, made prosecution impracticable after 2006.

Amidst all this scandal, France has expressed great sympathy toward Sinclair. And contrary to hurting Sinclair’s career, the ‘DSK Gate” as it is known in France, has actually enhanced her status, with a surge of empathy expressed toward her, as she stood by her man during this on-going ordeal. Choosing Sinclair could be a “coup de théâtre” for Le HuffPost and bring instant popularity to it, if she were to be hired.

Le HuffPost is set to be launched in Paris around November 12, with a mostly exclusively French and local staff.

AOL acquired the Huffington Post from Arianna Huffington this past February for $315 million. At the time, it counted nearly 27 million unique monthly visitors, but as of this last June, is reported to be attracting 37 millions, surpassing the New York Times for most visitors to a news site in the world. The new group (AOL/HP) has a combined base of 117 million unique visitors a month in the United States and 270 million around the world.

(Gig image Huffington Post)

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