IMF chief accused of sexual assault at NYC hotel
A member of the NYPD crime scene unit enters the Sofitel hotel in New
York, Saturday, May 14, 2011. Dominique …
NEW YORK – The leader of the International Monetary Fund and a possible
candidate for president of France was arrested Sunday in the violent sexual
assault of a hotel maid after being yanked from an airplane moments before it
was to depart for Paris, police said.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act,
attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment and was awaiting arraignment. He
had been taken off the Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International
Airport on Saturday afternoon by officers from the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey and was turned over to New York police, said Paul J.
Browne, New York Police Department spokesman.
His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, did not immediately respond to phone or email
messages left by The Associated Press. "We have not yet been able to meet
with our client and we may have more to say tomorrow," Brafman told The New
York Times late Saturday.
France woke to the bombshell news Sunday to surprise and a degree of
caution. Online commentators questioned whether the incident could have been part
of a smear campaign by the unpopular President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose
political fortunes have been flagging, against his primary rival in the race
for next year's presidential elections.
The arrest could completely shake up the race for president next year, and
throw the long-divided Socialists back into disarray about who they could
present as a challenger to Sarkozy.
"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."
The 32-year-old woman told authorities that she entered Strauss-Kahn's
suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel not far from Manhattan's Times Square at
about 1 p.m. Eastern time (1600 GMT) Saturday and he attacked her, Browne said.
She said she had been told to clean the spacious $3,000-a-night suite,
which she had been told 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 Port Authority
officials, who 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 being treated for minor
injuries. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was
cooperating in the investigation.
In 2008, Strauss-Kahn, a married father of four, was briefly investigated
over whether he had an improper relationship with a subordinate female
employee. The IMF board found his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected
a serious error of judgment."
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 incident.
"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 is headquartered in Washington and provides help in the form
of emergency loans for countries facing severe financial problems.
Strauss-Kahn won praise for his leadership at the IMF 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.
In October 2008, Strauss-Kahn issued an apology to the IMF staff after
accusations that he had a sexual relationship with an IMF subordinate.
"While this incident constituted an error in judgment on my part, for which
I take full responsibility, I firmly believe that I have not abused my
position," Strauss-Kahn wrote in an email to IMF staff.
The board found that the relationship was consensual. The IMF employee left
the fund and took a job with the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development.
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.
He had been viewed as a leading contender to run on the Socialist Party's
ticket to challenge the re-election of French President Nicolas Sarkozy next
year.
Strauss-Kahn, dubbed DSK in France, was seen as the strongest possible
challenger to Sarkozy. Strauss-Kahn has not declared his candidacy, staying
vague in interviews while feeding speculation that he wants France's top job.
The New York accusations come amid French media reports about
Strauss-Kahn's lifestyle, including luxury cars and suits, that some have dubbed a smear
campaign.
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, remained
prudent Sunday about the allegations, saying Strauss-Kahn has the right to
the presumption of innocence.
"My thoughts go to the man in this difficult time and to his family," she
said. "We are in a Democracy and must let justice do its work. Everybody
must stay calm."
The global financial crisis thrust Strauss-Kahn into an unexpectedly
prominent role and boosted his global standing in time to consider a 2012 French
presidential bid.
He 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. As finance minister, he reduced France's debt repayments
through a raft of privatizations including the sale of shares in France
Telecom SA and Air France.
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