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'SVU' Opener Reminiscent Of Strauss-Kahn Case

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Is the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case headed to Hollywood?

Not quite, but the season opener of the NBC crime drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' appears to closely mirror the Strauss-Kahn case.

NBC says the episode will deal with an Italian dignitary accused of rape, but the network routinely insists "SVU'' is fiction.

Franco Nero, who appeared last year in the film "Letters to Juliet,'' stars as the official. 

Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May on charges that he sexually assaulted a hotel maid at the Sofitel Hotel.

 The former International Monetary Fund chief has pleaded not guilty.

The accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, filed a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn on Monday for unspecified monetary damages.

The lawsuit claims Diallo "did not know that defendant Strauss-Kahn was the head of the IMF…" at the time of the incident in May.

"Law & Order: SVU'' begins its 13th season on September 21.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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