It might seem like a discount — still, $12.5 million is a lot to live in that very strange home.

We watched dutifully all summer as the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal raged on. So did the writers of Law & Order: SVU! Strauss-Kahn’s drama had all the proper fixings for an episode of the New York City-based crime show: a high-profile defendant, a plaintiff with a complicated past, a sex scandal, expensive Manhattan real estate and overbearing press coverage. But for writers on the show, the ever-changing case turned out to be a headache.

They at least don’t want him involved in their politics. Dominique Strauss-Kahn triumphantly, and might we add — dramatically — returned to his hometown of Paris last week, after spending the summer fighting off harassment charges in New York. In France, he was once a serious contender for the 2012 presidential election. Now, not so much.

Given the fact that he’s fled New York and headed back to his Paris palazzo, this probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise: the TriBeCa townhouse Dominique Strauss-Kahn was staying in is back on the market. We’ve been inside — if money is no object and you’re in the market for some downtown NYC digs, it’s a pretty nice pad. Except those glitter paintings in the basement. You might want to replace those.

The last time Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to get on an airplane, things didn’t go so well. Today, the former IMF head had his passport returned, meaning he can get the heck out of our town HEAD BACK TO FRANCE!!!! Charles de Gaulle Airport, here we go…

…Well. That is if Strauss-Kahn doesn’t get held back by the hurricane set to brutally attack New York this weekend.

Could it be the end of the summer-long saga? A lawyer for Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, says he thinks the charges against Strauss-Kahn will be dropped. When Diallo received a letter yesterday requesting a Monday afternoon meeting with the Manhattan District Attorney the day before Strauss-Kahn’s scheduled court appearance, her lawyers thought it could mean only one thing.

And another bit unfolds in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal. Surprise, surprise. Was hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo’s lawyer trying to secretly strike up some deals behind the scenes? Some new (rather unfortunate) information suggests that some shady stuff might be going down.

The New York Post notes that prosecutors are now investigating whether Diallo’s laywer, Kenneth Thompson, may have told Strauss-Kahn that he wouldn’t face criminal charges if the parties could come to a civil settlement – in other words, a cash payout. Some inside sources claimed once Diallo’s case began to fall apart, Thompson apparently approached Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers and tried to reach a settlement.

For those still following the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case with fascinated fervor, you’ll have to be a bit patient. Lawyers from both sides announced today that the next hearing has been pushed back to August 23. It had already been postponed to August 1, this upcoming Monday, from the original date of July 18, according to The New York Times. The postponements have been given to allow both sides to fully complete their cases and investigations.

Another surprising development this morning in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn alleged sexual assault case. In an unusual move, the former IMF director’s accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, went on national television to make her case.

As our friends at Mediaite pointed out, Diallo went on ABC’s Good Morning America in part because of the negative press she’s received in recent weeks. Among the allegations against her are claims that she had ties to organized crime and that she was at one point employed as a prostitute. Her legal team has subsequently sued the New York Post, the publication that published the latter accusation.

Looks like the mother of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s French accuser has a few accusations of her own.

Earlier this month, French novelist Tristane Banon came forward, announcing that she would file a criminal complaint accusing Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape. Now it would appear that her mother, Anne Mansouret, claims she had a “consensual but brutal” sexual incident with Strauss-Kahn, the New York Post has just reported. The alleged encounter occurred around 2000, roughly three years before Banon claims she was attacked. The details of the incident are under wraps but, if true, the whole situation just got a whole lot stranger.