Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is again back in the headlines after figuring in another legal battle, this time against the French media, which he said through his lawyers had been very "intrusive" of his and his wife's privacy.

Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair have filed a legal case against some French newspapers that carried reports alleging Strauss-Kahn's involvement in a prostitution ring in France's northern city of Lille. Reports also alleged that the couple are planning to divorce.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, led by by media lawyer Richard Malka, said in a statement that these media reports are mere invasion of privacy and voyeurism.

In a statement, lawyers Henri Leclerc and Frederique Baulieu slammed "articles showing the most detestable voyeurism about the alleged intentions or frames of mind of Anne Sinclair or of Dominique Strauss-Kahn."

The lawyers said there was no public interest to justify a series of reports, including from a judicial investigation allegedly linking a prostitution ring to Strauss-Kahn and reports that the couple's relationship was in trouble.

Strauss-Kahn, a leading presidential hopeful in France until his arrest in May in New York, has barely recovered from media scrutiny after months of coverage of the rape case lodged by a hotel chambermaid. Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF at the height of the controversy.

Strauss-Kahn on Friday demanded that he be questioned by judges investigating the alleged prostitution ring, claiming he was the victim of a "media lynching".

"Neither judicial nor media necessities authorise anyone not to respect the confidentiality of a judicial investigation, the presumption of innocence and various aspects of private life," the lawyers said in a statement.

They accused the media of "fantasising in particular about the alleged intentions or frames of mind of Anne Sinclair or of Dominique Strauss-Kahn under the hypothetical cover of statements by third parties courageously hiding behind anonymity".

"Anne Sinclair and Dominique Strauss-Kahn have given us the most firm instructions to go to court over these excesses," the lawyers said.

"We are already looking at what to do about certain articles showing the most detestable voyeurism and bringing no legitimate news to the general public," the statement said.