IMF Chief Charged with Sexual Assault; DNA Evidence Reported to Tie Strauss-Kahn to Accuser (Updated 5/24/11)

DNA Evidence Reported to Tie Strauss-Kahn to Accuser

May 23, 2011

Reuters - Evidence from the clothing of a hotel maid matched DNA samples submitted by former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn who has been charged with sexually assaulting her, media reported on Monday.

The test results were consistent with what law enforcement officials have said about the account provided by the woman, The New York Times reported, citing a person briefed in the matter.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that tests matched Strauss-Khan's DNA sample and semen found on the woman's shirt, citing law enforcement officials. Other test results, including ones on samples taken from the carpet in the hotel suite, were pending, The New York Times said.

Both newspapers said Strauss-Kahn's lead attorney, Benjamin Brafman, had declined to comment.

Asked about the reported DNA results, York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said:

"Experienced NYPD detectives found the complainant's account credible from the outset, and nothing since then has changed their minds."

Strauss-Kahn is facing charges of sexual assault and attempting to rape the maid at the Sofitel hotel in New York on May 14. He is being held in an apartment in Manhattan under armed guard after being freed on bail on Friday.

In a letter to IMF staff circulated on Monday, Strauss-Kahn strongly denied charges against him and called the events around his arrest "a personal nightmare." In the letter distributed to the fund's staff in an email by IMF acting Managing Director John Lipsky, Strauss-Kahn apologized for the pain his case had caused the global lender and said he was confident he would eventually be exonerated.

The letter reflects on his arrival at the fund in 2007 and explains his reasoning behind his resignation on Wednesday.

"I deny in the strongest possible terms the allegations which I now face; I am confident that the truth will come out and I will be exonerated," he said. A copy of the letter was obtained by Reuters

IMF Chief Resigns Amid Sexual Assault Charges; Let's Hope the Scandal Focuses the Spotlight on the IMF and Awakens the Masses to Its True Purpose

On May 14, 2011, IMF chief Strauss-Kahn was pulled off a plane headed for France and arrested for sexual assault; three days later, on May 17, 2011, the LA Times broke the story of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 14-year old secret love child. I wouldn't be surprised if the Schwarzenegger story was made public, with the media event surrounding it, to deflect attention away from the IMF.



Dominique Strauss-Kahn was granted bail on Thursday but faced another night in a New York jail, hours after he quit as head of the IMF under the cloud of sex crime charges. His resignation intensified a diplomatic race for global finance's top job which has gone exclusively to Europe for the past 65 years but is now in the sights of fast-growing developing economies. A judge granted Strauss-Kahn $1 million bail and ordered him to be detained in a New York apartment. He will be subject to electronic monitoring and under the watch of an armed guard, costing him $200,000 a month. [Reuters, May 19, 2011]

May 19, 2011

AP – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the embattled managing director of International Monetary Fund, has resigned, saying he wanted to devote "all his energy" to battle the sexual assault charges he faces in New York.

The IMF's executive board released a letter from the French executive Wednesday in which he denied the allegations lodged against him but said that with "sadness" he felt he must resign. He said he was thinking of his family and he wanted to protect the IMF.

"It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the executive board my resignation from my post of managing director of the IMF," the five-paragraph letter said. "I think at this time first of my wife — whom I love more than anything — of my children, of my family, of my friends. I think also of my colleagues at the Fund. Together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.

"To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me. I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially — especially — I want to devote all my strength, all my time and all my energy to proving my innocence."

Strauss-Kahn, who faced increasing international pressure to quit, announced his decision on the eve of a bail hearing Thursday that could have spelled the end of his leadership of the IMF anyway. He faces charges of assaulting a maid in a New York hotel room.

The maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea, told police that the 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down, forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear before she broke free and fled the room.

Strauss-Kahn is jailed in New York City.

Other Allegations Emerge Against IMF Chief

When her husband Dominique Strauss-Kahn was preparing to run for President of France five years ago, Anne Sinclair told a Paris newspaper that she was "rather proud" of his reputation as a ladies' man, a chaud lapin (hot rabbit) nicknamed the Great Seducer. "It's important," she said, "for a man in politics to be able to seduce." Maybe it was pride that inspired French politicians and International Monetary Fund officials to look the other way as the rumors about "DSK" piled up, from the young journalist who says Strauss-Kahn tried to rip off her clothes when she went to interview him, to the female lawmaker who describes being groped and pawed and vowed never to be in a room alone with him again, to the economist who argued in a letter to IMF investigators that "I fear that this man has a problem that, perhaps, made him unfit to lead an institution where women work under his command." Maybe it was the moral laziness and social coziness that impel elites to protect their own. Maybe it was a belief that he alone could save the global economy. Maybe nothing short of jail is disqualifying for certain men in certain circles. - Nancy Gibbs, Sex, Lies, Arrogance: What Makes Powerful Men Behave So Badly?, TIME, May 19, 2011

May 16, 2011

NPR - Haggard and unshaven after a weekend in jail, the chief of the International Monetary Fund was denied release on bail Monday on charges of trying to rape a hotel maid as allegations of other, similar attacks by Dominique Strauss-Kahn began to emerge.

In France, a lawyer for a novelist said the writer is likely to file a criminal complaint accusing Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her nine years ago. A French lawmaker accused him of attacking other maids in previous stays at the same luxury hotel. And in New York, prosecutors said they are working to verify reports of at least one other case, which they suggested was overseas.

Strauss-Kahn's weekend arrest rocked the financial world as the IMF grapples with the European debt crisis, and upended French presidential politics. Strauss-Kahn, a member of France's Socialist party, was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The New York Case

Making his first appearance on the sex charges, a grim-looking Strauss-Kahn stood slumped before a judge in a dark raincoat and open-collared shirt. The 62-year-old, silver-haired Strauss-Kahn said nothing as a lawyer professed his innocence and strove in vain to get him released on bail.

The judge ruled against him after prosecutors warned that the wealthy banker might flee to France and put himself beyond the reach of U.S. law like the filmmaker Roman Polanski.

"This battle has just begun," defense attorney Benjamin Brafman told scores of reporters outside the courthouse, adding that Strauss-Kahn might appeal the bail denial.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of attacking a maid who had gone in to clean his penthouse suite Saturday afternoon at a luxury hotel near Times Square. He is charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. The most serious charge carries five to 25 years in prison.

Strauss-Kahn, who has headed the international lending agency since 2007, was in New York on personal business and was paying his own way, so he cannot claim diplomatic immunity, the IMF said. He could seek that protection only if he were conducting official business, spokesman William Murray said. The agency's executive board met informally Monday for a report on the charges against Strauss-Kahn, its managing director.

The French newspaper Le Monde, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, said he had reserved the $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel hotel for one night for a quick trip to have lunch with his daughter, who is studying in New York.

The hotel maid, identified as a 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea and a mother of two, told authorities that she thought the suite was empty but that Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway, pulled her into a bedroom and dragged her into a bathroom, police said.

He seized her breasts, tried to pull down her pantyhose, grabbed at her crotch and forced her to perform oral sex on him during the encounter at about noon, according to a court complaint. She ultimately broke free, escaped the room and told hotel staffers what had happened, authorities said. She was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

"The victim provided a very powerful and detailed account of the violent sexual assault," Assistant District Attorney John "Ardie" McConnell said. He added that forensic evidence may support her account. Strauss-Kahn voluntarily submitted to a forensic examination Sunday night.

Brafman said defense lawyers believe the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter." Defense lawyers wouldn't elaborate, but Brafman said "there are significant issues that were already found" that make it "quite likely that he will be ultimately be exonerated."

Prosecutors asked the judge to hold Strauss-Kahn without bail, noting that he lives in France, is wealthy, has an international job and was arrested on a Paris-bound plane at Kennedy Airport. He had left the Sofitel hotel before police arrived, leaving his cellphone behind, and appeared hurried on surveillance recordings, authorities said.

Prosecutors said they couldn't force his return from France if he went there.

"He would be living openly and notoriously in France, just like Roman Polanski," said Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alonso, referring to the film director long sought by California authorities for sentencing in a 1977 child sex case.

Swiss police arrested him in 2009, but he was freed last year when Switzerland declined to extradite him to the United States.

Defense lawyers suggested bail be set at $1 million and promised that the IMF managing director would remain in New York City. His lawyers said Strauss-Kahn wasn't trying to elude police Saturday: The IMF head rushed out of the hotel at about 12:30 p.m. to get to a lunch date with a family member, then caught a flight for which he had long had a ticket, according to Brafman and fellow defense lawyer William W. Taylor.

"This is not a case of someone who commits a crime, runs to the airport and jumps on the first available plane," Brafman said.

Still, Criminal Court Judge Melissa C. Jackson said the fact that Strauss-Kahn was on a plane when arrested "raises some concerns." She ordered him jailed at least until a court proceeding on Friday.

The IMF

Strauss-Kahn became head of the IMF at one of its most challenging times. The organization has played a lead role in helping to bail out Greece and other struggling European countries.

Eswar Prasad of Cornell University says Strauss-Kahn has negotiated with European officials and persuaded them to back the bailouts.

"Among senior international policymakers, like finance ministers and central bank governors, Dominique Strauss-Kahn really had the status of a rock star," Prasad says. "Unlike previous managing directors, he was really seen as the first among equals, as somebody who had the stature to essentially bring them all together."

The IMF issued a statement this weekend saying it remained fully functioning and operational. And Prasad, who is himself a former IMF official, said he had no doubt that was true.

"Most of the work the fund does, including its lending operations, are mostly technical matters. And for all those technical matters, the staff are perfectly equipped to do this on their own," Prasad says. "But the big question is what happens when decisions have to be taken that have more than an economic element to them and that have a very large political element to them."

For the time being, Strauss-Kahn will be succeeded by his No. 2 man, American John Lipsky. But Lipsky has said he plans to leave the agency this summer.

New Accommodations

Strauss-Kahn makes an annual tax-free salary as head of the IMF of $420,930, plus an annual "scale of living" allowance of $75,350, according to a 2007 IMF press release.

According to the 2000 biography Les Vies Cachees de DSK by Vincent Giret and Veronique Le Billon, Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, was one of France's highest-paid TV journalists before she gave up her job to avoid a possible conflict of interest when her husband became a government minister in 1997. The biography says Sinclair is also a wealthy heiress, whose grandfather Paul Rosenberg was a prominent modern art dealer before the Second World War.

French newspapers have inventoried the couple's real estate holdings, which reportedly include a six-room apartment in Paris' chic 16th arrondissement; a 240-square-meter apartment on the luxurious Place des Vosges; a home in Marrakech, and a house in Washington.

Strauss-Khan will be held in protective custody in the city's Rikers Island jail because of his high profile, said city Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello. Unlike most prisoners, who share 50-bed barracks, Strauss-Kahn will have a single-bed cell and eat all his meals alone there. Also, when he is outside his cell, he will have a prison-guard escort.

Other Allegations

Meanwhile, a lawyer for 31-year-old French novelist Tristane Banon said she will probably file a complaint alleging Strauss-Kahn sexually attacked her in 2002. Lawyer David Koubbi told French radio RTL that Banon hadn't pressed her claim earlier because of "pressures" but would do so now because "she knows she'll be taken seriously."

The Associated Press is identifying Banon as an alleged victim of sexual assault because she has gone public with her account. Banon talked about the incident on French TV in 2007 but the station bleeped out Strauss-Kahn's name. She said she had gone to an apartment to interview Strauss-Kahn when he began trying to remove her clothes, but she was able to fight him off.

Banon, whose mother is like Strauss-Kahn a Socialist party official, said the incident in New York had freed her to talk about the assault.

A French lawmaker from a rival political party also alleged, without offering evidence, that Strauss-Kahn had victimized several maids during past stays at the Sofitel near Times Square. The hotel issued a statement calling conservative lawmaker Michel Debre's claims "baseless and defamatory."

Sofitel management "has had no knowledge of any previous attempted aggressions," the hotel said, adding that it had set up a hotline for workers to report incidents more than a year ago.

McConnell, the assistant district attorney, said in court Monday that New York authorities are working to verify at least one other case of "conduct similar to the conduct alleged." When the judge asked whether the potential other incident occurred in the United States, McConnell said he "believed that was abroad."

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said they had no immediate response to the allegations emerging from overseas.

In France, defenders of Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister who had topped the polls as a possible candidate in presidential elections next year, said they suspected he was the victim of a smear campaign.

The 187-nation IMF provides emergency loans to countries in severe distress and tries to maintain global financial stability.

IMF Chief Claims Consent in Hotel 'Attack'

Strauss-Kahn is charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. The most serious charge carries five to 25 years in prison. His accuser, a 32-year-old immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea with a 15-year-old daughter, did not know who this man was until a day or two after this took place, her attorney, Jeffrey Shapiro, told The Associated Press. Shapiro said there was no truth to suggestions that she had fabricated her account, describing her as an honest woman with "no agenda. "Her life has now been turned upside down. She can't go home. She can't go back to work. She has no idea what her future will be, what she will be able to do to support herself and her daughter. This has been nothing short of a cataclysmic event in her life," Shapiro said. The woman, he said, came to the U.S. seven years ago under "very difficult circumstances" and is raising her daughter by herself now that the girl's father is dead. "The family was granted asylum in the U.S., and she is a legal resident. She has worked at the hotel for three years... There is no way in which there is any aspect of this event which could be construed consensual in any manner. This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman." Strauss-Kahn's arrest continued to produce calls for his resignation from the IMF, which provides emergency loans to stabilize countries in economic distress and is now grappling with the debt crisis in Europe. Austria's finance minister, Maria Fekter, said: "Considering the situation, that bail was denied, he has to figure out for himself that he is hurting the institution." U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Strauss-Kahn "is obviously not in a position to run" the IMF. - IMF chief under suicide watch at NYC jail, The Associated Press, May 17, 2011

May 17, 2011

New York Post - France's leading presidential candidate may have pounced on a Manhattan hotel maid -- but she wanted it, his lawyer asserted in court yesterday, hinting at what could be an explosive defense.

"The evidence, we believe, will not be consistent with a forcible encounter," said Ben Brafman, the high-powered lawyer of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, at the suspect's sensational arraignment in a packed criminal courtroom.

A source close to the defense later told The Post,

"There may well have been consent."

Disturbing information also emerged about Strauss-Kahn's behavior after he left the hotel -- including his coolly having lunch with his daughter, who lives in Manhattan, at a restaurant about a half-hour after the alleged attack.

The developments came as an exhausted and humiliated-looking Strauss-Kahn -- a financial jet-setter and world politico -- was ordered held without bail by a leery Judge Melissa Jackson, who noted that he had been caught just in the nick of time at JFK Airport.

Brafman tried to convince the judge that Strauss-Khan -- who faces four felonies, including attempted rape and criminal sexual acts -- was far from a flight risk.

"This isn't someone who was about to flee the jurisdiction . . . He . . . has four children, and being accused of being a rapist is something he wants resolved," Brafman said of his 62-year-old client.

He asked the judge to free him on $1 million bail -- Strauss-Kahn's loyal, New York-born wife, Anne Sinclair, had already wired the entire amount in cash, he said.

The white-haired, debonair dad would even stay with his 26-year-old daughter, Camille, a married poli-sci student at Columbia University while awaiting hearings, Brafman said. Camille and her husband arrived about halfway through the hearing to support her father. The pair, both grim-faced and dressed in jeans, said nothing as they stood in the back of the courtroom.

But Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alonso, the second-in-command in the office, who had demanded that Strauss-Kahn be remanded without bail, scoffed at the idea.

"It's just like Roman Polanski -- it's the same, exact situation," Alonso warned Jackson, referring to the movie director who was charged with a sex act involving a child in California in 1977 and fled to France to dodge prosecution for more than 30 years.

France has no extradition agreements with other countries, and Strauss-Kahn faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors also hinted at Strauss-Kahn's dark past.

"Our investigation reveals [Strauss-Kahn] may have engaged in similar conduct on at least one other occasion," said ADA Artie McConnell.

A law-enforcement source later said that incident occurred outside the country but didn't elaborate. A French journalist, Tristane Banon, has said Strauss-Kahn assaulted her during an interview in 2002.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of attacking the maid at the Sofitel hotel in Times Square around noon on Saturday after she entered his $3,000-a-night suite to clean it, thinking it was empty.

The millionaire moneyman had checked into Room 2805-6 a day earlier for a two-day jaunt, which his employer, the International Monetary Fund, said was for "personal business."

A male room-service worker told the maid the room was empty, law-enforcement sources said.

Following hotel policy, she parked her cart in the doorway to the suite, leaving the door ajar. She then entered the living-room area and announced herself to make sure again no one was inside.

When she didn't get an answer, she went to the bedroom to clean.

Strauss-Kahn strolled in naked from the bathroom, she told cops. The 32-year-old maid apologized and turned around to leave.

But she made it only as far as the foyer. Strauss-Kahn allegedly ran up behind her, grabbed her breasts, pushed the cart out of the door and locked it shut. He allegedly dragged her into the bedroom and tried to force her to perform oral sex.

The maid broke free and ran out of the bedroom, only to get caught again and dragged into the bathroom, where she was allegedly forced to perform oral sex on him, the sources said.

At one point, Strauss-Kahn tried to pull off her pantyhose and rape her, authorities said.

She escaped again and fled the room. She immediately reported the incident to her supervisor.

Security video shows Strauss-Kahn leaving his room at 12:28 p.m., and "he appeared to be a man who was in a hurry," Alonso said.

He then met his daughter for lunch.

"He had lunch at 12:45 p.m., so it's not an alibi," said a source close to the defense. "At the same time, he made a series of phone calls conducting business as usual. This business of him running out of the hotel is horses- - t."

After lunch, Strauss-Kahn hopped into in a rented black car to JFK for a 4:40 p.m. Air France flight to Paris.

Along the way, he called his wife to tell her he had a "serious problem," French media reported.

He also phoned the staff at Sofitel -- mistakenly thinking he'd left one of his several cellphones there, sources said.

Judge Denies Bail to I.M.F. Chief in Sexual Assault Case

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. "He denies all the charges against him," his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said. "And that's all I can really say right now."

The defendant restrained a hotel employee inside of the room. He sexually assaulted her and attempted to forcibly rape her, and when that failed, he forced her to perform oral sex. There is a video of Mr. Strauss-Kahn leaving the Sofitel New York, on West 44th Street, after the time alleged for the attack. “It appears to be a man who was in a hurry.” The criminal complaint says that Mr. Strauss-Kahn shut the door and prevented the woman from leaving, grabbing her breasts, trying to pull down her pantyhose and grabbing her crotch. The victim provided very powerful details consistent with violent sexual assault committed by the defendant. Forensic evidence supported the victim’s version of events.

May 16, 2011

New York Times - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was ordered on Monday to be held without bail over allegations that he had sexually assaulted a housekeeper in a lavish suite at a Midtown hotel.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn waited to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday.

The decision to deny bail was a surprising and striking defeat for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, whom many saw as a leading contender to become France’s next president. He was taken to Rikers Island, where he will be held in protective custody in a single-person cell.

Prosecutors had asked the Criminal Court judge, Melissa C. Jackson, to remand Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, contending that he was a flight risk. They also indicated that he may have been previously involved in a similar episode.

“Some of this information includes reports he has in fact engaged in conduct similar to the conduct alleged in this complaint on at least one other occasion,” said Artie McConnell, an assistant district attorney, adding that the other occasion, which occurred outside the United States, was still being investigated.

In opposing bail, prosecutors highlighted the serious nature of the allegations.

“The defendant restrained a hotel employee inside of the room,” Mr. McConnell said. “He sexually assaulted her and attempted to forcibly rape her,” and when that failed, Mr. McConnell said, he forced her to perform oral sex.

Mr. McConnell also said that he saw a video of Mr. Strauss-Kahn leaving the Sofitel New York, on West 44th Street, after the time alleged for the attack.

“It appears to be a man who was in a hurry,” Mr. McConnell said.

As he entered the courtroom, Mr. Strauss-Kahn looked just as he had the day before — in a dark full-length coat, hands cuffed behind his back and a stern gaze on his face. He did not enter a plea during the proceeding, nor did he speak aloud.

The criminal complaint says that Mr. Strauss-Kahn shut the door and prevented the woman from leaving, grabbing her breasts, trying to pull down her pantyhose and grabbing her crotch.

“The victim provided very powerful details consistent with violent sexual assault committed by the defendant,” Mr. McConnell said, adding that she told hotel staff members and law enforcement authorities what had happened shortly after the attack.

The woman was examined after the episode, and law enforcement officials were processing evidence from the hotel room, Mr. McConnell said.

Preliminary indications, Mr. McConnell said, was that forensic evidence supported “the victim’s version of events.”

Benjamin Brafman, one of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, argued that “this is a very, very defensible case. He should be entitled to bail.” He suggested that it be set at $1 million, and said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s wife, Anne Sinclair, who was flying in from Paris on Monday afternoon, would provide the money.

The defense team already has found significant issues with the case, Mr. Brafman said, though he did not elaborate. Nor did he suggest — as some in the French news media have — that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was a victim of a setup.

Mr. Brafman added that although his client was arrested on an Air France plane that was about to take off from Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, he was not trying to flee. Mr. Brafman said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s travel plans had been set for some time, and he indicated that there was evidence that between the time of the alleged attack and his flight, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was in the area of the hotel, taking care of other business.

He also said that his client had a lunch meeting near the hotel after the time the housekeeper had given for the attack, and that his lunch partner would be able to testify. In addition, he said, the hotel security found out he was at the airport only after he volunteered where he was.

“That is not consistent with someone who is trying to conceal his whereabouts, so he could get on a flight and leave,” Mr. Brafman said.

One person briefed on Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s travel plans said that he had bought the ticket more than a week ago.

Mr. Brafman added that if his client were granted bail, he would stay with his daughter in New York for the duration of the case. He also said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn and his wife owned a house in the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington.

But prosecutors said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s resources, the lack of an extradition treaty between the United States and France, and the defendant’s history were all reasons that he should not be granted bail.

Indeed, Judge Jackson, the supervising judge of Manhattan Criminal Court, indicated that she was concerned about Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s being stopped at the airport.

“When I hear that your client was at J.F.K. Airport about to board a flight,” she said, “that raises some concern.”

The judge also indicated that she would not reconsider her bail decision, even if Mr. Strauss-Kahn were to agree to wear an ankle monitor.

Mr. Brafman indicated that his client had turned over his passport to the district attorney’s office and that he would also surrender his laissez-passer, a United Nations credential issued to international personnel that allows for easier travel.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court, which lasted only 26 minutes, capped a 43-hour odyssey through New York’s criminal system. He was arrested, held in a special cell in East Harlem and placed in a police lineup, and submitted to a forensic medical exam for possible evidence.

He even was subjected to a ritual familiar to high-profile suspects: the so-called perp walk, providing newspapers around the world with a front-page picture.

At the arraignment, Mr. Strauss-Kahn stood droopy-faced, and was slouching on a bench with his arms folded before his case was called.

The charges include various counts of sexual assault, including attempted rape, sexual abuse and criminal sexual act. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, and is due back in court Friday, when he is likely to learn if the grand jury has handed up an indictment.

Interest in the details of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s case is seemingly bottomless. For example, questions arose as to how he came to stay in a $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel and fly first-class on Air France.

On Monday, William Murray, a spokesman for the International Monetary Fund, said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn had paid $525 for the room, according to a Travelocity reservation receipt provided by Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s office. Mr. Murray said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn had stayed at the Sofitel several times before, and that the I.M.F. had not expected to reimburse him for the cost. Mr. Murray added that the I.M.F. had paid for a business-class seat on Air France for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, but that he received an upgrade.

Other details emerged on Monday, some more arcane than others. For example, when he stood in a police lineup of five men — and was ultimately identified by the housekeeper — he was No. 3, in the center. He had eaten two meals Sunday, both paid for by the Police Department, which is routine. For breakfast: eggs, toast and potatoes. For dinner: “a sandwich of cheese, ham and mustard from a local Harlem deli,” said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman.

At Rikers, Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be issued a standard green plastic drinking cup. If he reached the jail in time for the evening meal on Monday, he would have been served two turkey burgers and mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, two slices of whole-wheat bread and some fruit — sliced pears — along with a fruit drink or tea.

IMF Chief Yanked from Plane, Charged with NYC Sexual Assault

Strauss-Kahn earns a tax-free salary of $420,930 and expense allowances of $75,350 per year (2007 figures). This is more than the earnings of the World Bank president ($493,940 tax-free), the US president ($450,000 taxed) and the UN secretary general ($403,958 tax-free). Only the general manager of the BIS makes more (about $750,000 plus unspecified allowances). Strauss-Kahn will also participate in the staff retirement plan, a defined-benefit pension scheme, which are strictly taboo for developing countries according to IMF advice. Strauss-Kahn will get an extra top-up to the pension for being the managing director, with the size variable by the length of his employment. For example if he stays for his full term, he will draw 180 per cent of the pension of a regular Fund staffer in any year he does not work. The Fund does not publish details of its pension plan. The IMF is an immensely powerful agency that loans money to countries to stabilize the world economy. In exchange it often imposes strict austerity measures. [Source]

May 15, 2011

AP - The leader of the International Monetary Fund, a possible candidate for president of France, was yanked from an airplane moments before it was to depart for Paris and arrested in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid, police said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He had been taken off the Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday afternoon by police officers.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told The Associated Press that his client will plead not guilty at his expected Sunday afternoon arraignment.

"He denies all the charges against him," Brafman said. "And that's all I can really say right now."

France woke to the news Sunday with a measure of surprise.

Strauss-Kahn was expected to be the main challenger against President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose political fortunes have been flagging, in next year's presidential elections. The arrest could shake up the race and throw the long-divided Socialists back into disarray about who they could present as Sarkozy's opponent.

"It's a cross that will be difficult for him to bear," said Dominique Paille, a political rival to Strauss-Kahn on the center right, on BFM television.

"It's totally hallucinating. If it is true, this would be a historic moment, but in the negative sense, for French political life," Paille said. Still, he urged, "I hope that everyone respects the presumption of innocence. I cannot manage to believe this affair."

It wasn't clear why Strauss-Kahn was in New York. The IMF is based in Washington, and he was due in Germany on Sunday. His attorney declined to answer questions beyond saying his client denied the charges.

Strauss-Kahn checked into the luxury Sofitel hotel not far from Manhattan's Times Square Friday afternoon, police said.

The 32-year-old maid told authorities that she entered his suite early Saturday afternoon and he attacked her, New York Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne. She said she had been told to clean the spacious $3,000-a-night suite, which she thought was empty.

According to an account the woman provided to police, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he began to sexually assault her. She said she fought him off, then he dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear. The woman was able to break free again and escaped the room and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said. They called police.

When detectives arrived moments later, Strauss-Kahn had already left the hotel, leaving behind his cellphone, Browne said.

"It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.

The NYPD discovered he was at the airport and contacted officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. Port Authority officers plucked Strauss-Kahn from first class on the Air France flight that was just about to leave the gate.

The maid was taken by police to a hospital and was being treated for minor injuries. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was cooperating in the investigation.

In sexual assault cases, it is procedure for detectives to look for DNA and forensic evidence and signs of trauma.

The accusations come amid French media reports about Strauss-Kahn's lifestyle, including luxury cars and suits, that some have dubbed a smear campaign.

The married father of four is known as DSK in France, but media there also have dubbed him "the great seducer." His reputation as a charmer of women has not hurt his career in France, where politicians' private lives traditionally come under less scrutiny than in the United States.

In 2008, Strauss-Kahn was briefly investigated over whether he had an improper relationship with a subordinate female employee. The IMF board found that the relationship was consensual, but called his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected a serious error of judgment." The IMF employee left the fund and took a job with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Strauss-Kahn issued an apology, writing in an email to IMF staff that he showed poor judgment but didn't abuse his position.

Caroline Atkinson, an IMF spokeswoman, issued a statement Sunday that said the agency would have no comment on the New York case. She referred all inquiries to Strauss-Kahn's personal lawyer and said the "IMF remains fully functioning and operational."

Strauss-Kahn's offices in Paris couldn't be reached when the news broke overnight in France. One of his allies, Jean-Marie Le Guen, expressed doubt about the case.

"The facts as they've been reported today have nothing to do with the Dominique Strauss-Kahn that we know," Le Guen said on BFM television. "Dominique Strauss-Kahn has never exhibited violence toward people close to him, to anyone."

Strauss-Kahn was supposed to be meeting in Berlin on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about aid to debt-laden Greece, and then join EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. The IMF is responsible for one-third of Greece's existing loan package, and his expected presence at these meetings underlined the gravity of the Greek crisis.

Strauss-Kahn took over as head of the IMF in November 2007. The 187-nation lending agency provides help in the form of emergency loans for countries facing severe financial problems.

He won praise for his leadership during the financial crisis of 2008 and the severe global recession that followed.

More recently, he has directed the IMF's participation in bailout efforts to keep a European debt crisis, which began in Greece from destabilizing the global economy.

Before taking the top post at the IMF, Strauss-Kahn had been a member of the French National Assembly and had also served as France's Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry from June 1997 to November 1999.

More recently, Strauss-Kahn was seen as the strongest possible challenger to Sarkozy. He has not declared his candidacy, staying vague in interviews while feeding speculation that he wants France's top job.

He sought the Socialist Party's endorsement in the last elections, in 2007, but came in second in a primary to Segolene Royal. Royal, the first woman to get so close to France's presidency, lost to Sarkozy in the runoff.

After Sarkozy won, the new president championed Strauss-Kahn as a candidate to run the IMF. Sarkozy's backers touted the move as a sign of the conservative president's campaign of openness to leftists — but political strategists saw it as a way for Sarkozy to get a potential challenger far away from the French limelight.

Royal, who continues to harbor presidential ambitions of her own, was cautious about the allegations, saying Sunday that Strauss-Kahn has the right to the presumption of innocence.

Strauss-Kahn is credited with preparing France for the adoption of the euro by taming its deficit and persuading then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to sign up to an EU pact of fiscal prudence.

A former economics professor, Strauss-Kahn joined the Socialist party in 1976 and was elected to parliament in 1986 from the Val-d'Oise district, north of Paris. He went on to become mayor of Sarcelles, a working-class immigrant suburb of Paris.

His first government post was industry minister under former President Francois Mitterrand.

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