IMF chief pulled off flight to answer sex charges
Source: Agencies |
May 16, 2011, Monday
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THE head of the International Monetary Fund and a possible candidate for the French presidency was yanked from an airplane in New York moments before it was due to leave and arrested in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, is being held on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He had been taken off the Air France flight to Paris at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was turned over to New York police, said Paul Browne, a police department spokesman.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Benjamin Brafman said his client would be pleading not guilty at his expected arraignment yesterday.
"He denies all the charges against him," Brafman said. "And that's all I can really say right now."
France woke to the bombshell news yesterday. The arrest could 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 President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A 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 1pm on Saturday and he attacked her, Browne said. She said she had been told to clean the spacious US$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 and escape from the room and tell 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 added.
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 was being treated for minor injuries. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was cooperating in the investigation.
It wasn't clear why Strauss-Kahn was in New York. The IMF is based in Washington, and he was due in Germany yesterday.
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, said the agency would have no comment on the New York case.
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. "Dominique Strauss-Kahn has never exhibited violence toward people close to him, to anyone."
(AP)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, is being held on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He had been taken off the Air France flight to Paris at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was turned over to New York police, said Paul Browne, a police department spokesman.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Benjamin Brafman said his client would be pleading not guilty at his expected arraignment yesterday.
"He denies all the charges against him," Brafman said. "And that's all I can really say right now."
France woke to the bombshell news yesterday. The arrest could 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 President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A 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 1pm on Saturday and he attacked her, Browne said. She said she had been told to clean the spacious US$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 and escape from the room and tell 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 added.
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 was being treated for minor injuries. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was cooperating in the investigation.
It wasn't clear why Strauss-Kahn was in New York. The IMF is based in Washington, and he was due in Germany yesterday.
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, said the agency would have no comment on the New York case.
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. "Dominique Strauss-Kahn has never exhibited violence toward people close to him, to anyone."
(AP)
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