Is the Head of the IMF a Sex Criminal?

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 60, was arrested on May 15 while awaiting take-off to Paris from New York on charges of sexually assaulting and sequestering a chambermaid from a Sofitel hotel in New York.
His alleged victim, a 31-year old single mother of Guinean origin, formally identified him through one-way glass during a police line – up the following day.
But his two lawyers told the Libération newspaper yesterday that they have grounds to argue the identification was illegal, as the plaintiff had been shown pictures of Mr Strauss-Kahn prior to the line-up.
Citing an account of events released by Manhattan's district attorney, the lawyers said it showed that the maid had been shown a photo of Mr Strauss-Kahn by hotel staff shortly after the alleged attack, and that she saw pictures on TV of the one-time French presidential hopeful while waiting to identify him at the police station.
The lawyers, Benjamin Brafman and William Taylor, said they would plead the identification was null and void at Mr Strauss-Kahn's next court appearance on July 18

NEW YORK (AP) — Former International Monetary Fund Leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have his pricey bail substantially reduced in his sexual assault case because of issues with his accuser's credibility, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public in court, said prosecutors have raised issues about the credibility of the hotel housekeeper who has accused Strauss-Kahn of raping her, but would not elaborate on what those issues were.
The New York Times first reported that the investigators uncovered major holes in the maid's credibility, citing two law enforcement officials. One of the officials told the Times that the woman has repeatedly lied since making the initial allegation May 14.
The woman's lawyer did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Another person familiar with the case, speaking on conditions of anonymity for the same reason, said earlier Thursday that Strauss-Kahn may get his pricey bail and house arrest arrangement eased in the case. The person declined to detail what the new bail arrangements might be.

Prosecutors from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who initially were emphatic about the strength of the case and the account of the victim, plan to tell the judge on Friday that they “have problems with the case” based on what their investigators have discovered, and will disclose more of their findings to the defense. The woman still maintains that she was attacked, the officials said.

“It is a mess, a mess on both sides,” one official said.

According to the two officials, the woman had a phone conversation with an incarcerated man within a day of her encounter with Mr. Strauss-Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing the charges against him. The conversation was recorded.

That man, the investigators learned, had been arrested on charges of possessing 400 pounds of marijuana. He is among a number of individuals who made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into the woman’s bank account over the last two years. The deposits were made in Arizona, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania.

The investigators also learned that she was paying hundreds of dollars every month in phone charges to five companies. The woman had insisted she had only one phone and said she knew nothing about the deposits except that they were made by a man she described as her fiancé and his friends.

In addition, one of the officials said, she told investigators that her application for asylum included mention of a previous rape, but there was no such account in the application. She also told them that she had been subjected to genital mutilation, but her account to the investigators differed from what was contained in the asylum application.

It would also be remarkable that this information, if confirmed, took so long to be recognized and acted on.

The maid who accused former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn of a violent sex attack in his Midtown hotel room has repeatedly lied to prosecutors and is "personally associated" with money launderers and drug dealers — revelations that have sunk the prosecution’s case, sources told The Post last night.
"She’s a con artist," one law enforcement source said, adding that prosecutors have concluded "she cannot be put on the stand.
"She’d be a flawed witness."
The alleged victim, a chambermaid at the Sofitel Hotel, "continuously lied to us," a law-enforcement source told The Post.


Strauss-Kahn has admitting to having sex with her, but insisted it was consensual. That makes her the only one who can tell a jury she tried to resist — and DA Cyrus Vance now realizes that if she’s exposed to cross examinination she’ll be destroyed on the stand when defense lawyers shine a light on the skeletons in her closet.
Strauss-Kahn’s legal team has hired the world’s best private investigators to ferret out every detail about the the accuser’s past.
They have unearthed photographs of her drinking and partying, despite her professed Muslim faith, sources told The Post.
Investigators initially found the 32-year-old accuser’s account credible when she said that Strauss-Kahn, 62, forcibly made her perform oral sex after she mistakenly went into his room while he showered, but they now have many questions.
Within a day of the May 14 incident, the maid called a friend who was in jail for allegedly possessing 400 pound of marijuana to discuss how she could benefit from the tryst, The New York Times reported.
That phone call was recorded by authorities, the report said.
Equally troubling, investigators learned that several people from around the country made multiple cash deposits in her bank account totaling $100,000 over the past two years, the Times said.
She also paid hundreds of dollars in phone charges every month to five different companies, although she insisted she had only one phone herself.
She also showed inconsistencies on her asylum application to the United States some 10 years ago — for which there is a "good chance she could get deported," according to a Post source.
Not only did she tell "numerous lies," but she is "personally connected" to drug dealers and money launderers, the source said.
Also, she told investigators she was a victim of rape and subjected to genital mutilation in her home land, information that contradicts her asylum application.
Despite the revelations, law-enforcement sources said the woman is not backing off her claims of sexual assault.
Still, a law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that prosecutors believe she lied about some of her activities in the hours surrounding the alleged attack, but they haven’t necessarily questioned her account about the incident itself.
Questions about her credibility were first revealed by The Post days after Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, including the fact that she lived in subsidized housing for AIDS patients, although she swore to investigators she was not infected.
Prosecutors are expected to tell the court today that there are serious "credibility" issues with the maid, during a hearing scheduled to discuss loosening the terms of Strauss-Kahn’s strict house arrest conditions as well as his bail.
Strauss-Kahn’s legal team is expected to ask that condition of his strict house arrest be eased.
He could even be released without bail today, a source said.
The banking big, a former contender for the French presidency, was yanked off a Paris-bound flight and arrested hours after his midday encounter with the maid.
"Sex definitely happened that day, but who knows what happened?" the law-enforcement source said. His DNA was recovered from a piece of carpet cut from the floor of the hotel room.
DSK was slapped with seven felony charges on May 16, including sex abuse and attempted rape, that could have landed the married French pol 25 years in jail.
Since May 20, the one-time French presidential contender has been confined to his $50,000-a-month mansion in TriBeCa, permitted to leave only for court appearances, meetings with doctors and lawyers, and to worship once a week.
Prosecutors are working with three possible scenarios that could each destroy their case against the rape case against Strauss-Kahn
-- They had consensual sex
-- Strauss-Kahn paid her for sex
-- The maid set him up in an extortion plot
A source in Paris has told The Post that reps for DSK traveled to the accuser’s rural Guinea hometown in western Africa to meet with her family and broker a settlement to make the case go away.
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment.
In a May 25 letter to the court, Brafman wrote the defense had unearthed "substantial information that in our view would seriously undermine the quality of this prosecution and also gravely undermine the credibility of the complainant in this case."
Throughout the drama, Strauss-Kahn’s billionaire American-born wife, Anne Sinclair, has stuck by his side.


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/sources_assault_case_against_apart_9p7wWKT0k7qa8X2Qwt8lZI#ixzz1QpnWkgS8

News is breaking that the prosecutor's case in the rape allegations against former IMF Director and French political kingpin Dominique Strauss-Kahn is collapsing.

According to reports, the accuser who worked at New York's Hotel Sofitel has allegedly been engaged in money laundering activities and has had substantial contact with an incarcerated drug dealer. Strauss-Kahn's bails and terms of detention are reportedly going to be lightened today -- and others are suggesting that felony charges may be dropped against him.

Maybe he did harass this woman -- but it is also possible that he did not. That's what the system of justice is for -- to presume innocence until guilt is determined. That no longer sounds likely in this case.

But this week, former French Finance Minister Christine Legarde was named Strauss-Kahn's successor at the International Monetary Fund, and back at home, French Socialist Party Leader Martine Aubry declared her candidacy for President.
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There is no clear fix to these problems. We don't have a system that would let Strauss-Kahn have his job back, and Aubry is not likely to step aside in her presidential quest and let DSK go back and take the top spot challenging Sarkozy.

Again, I am not saying that I know if he did or didn't engage in lewd conduct against a hotel chambermaid -- but his legally-based presumed innocence has been inconsequential to the penalties that he's already received, and that's something that should worry us.

Wow ! If confirmed these reports will likely turn the whole affair upside down !

It would also be remarkable that this information, if confirmed, took so long to be recognized and acted on.

What is important is the arrest of the boss of the IMF and front runner in the French presidential election, the first court appearance and the remand to Rikers Island, on the strength of an allegation from an immigrant cleaning woman from rural Guinea. What it has exposed to view and the implications for genuine rape victims.

They wanted to believe her. They were salivating at the prospect as the front pages of those tabloids you so kindly displayed on A2K's behalf demonstrated

They wanted to believe her. They were salivating at the prospect as the front pages of those tabloids you so kindly displayed on A2K's behalf demonstrated.

They wanted her to be "highly credible". There wasn't time for forensic evidence before the arrest and that disgraceful first court appearance.

Do you know anything about rural Guinea?

Your posts on this thread ff look to be hysterical. The language you have used and are still using is ridiculous. You're obviously not interested in genuine rape victims who now have a a bigger hill to climb than before.

The New York Times
July 1, 2011
News of Turnaround in Dominique Strauss-Kahn Case Stuns France
By ALAN COWELL

PARIS — News of the weakened case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn stunned and divided France on Friday, spurring calls from his supporters for his rehabilitation and raising fevered debate over whether he would revive presidential ambitions in his own country.

“This is like a thunderbolt,” said Lionel Jospin, a former Socialist prime minister who is close to Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who was once regarded as the likely Socialist Party candidate to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s elections.

Those ambitions came to an end when he was accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper in a New York hotel in May. The allegations seemed to draw an abrupt and indelible line across his career, forcing his resignation from the I.M.F. as the fissured Socialists began seeking a new presidential champion. But the calculations changed radically after Mr. Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest in New York on Friday, following accounts by two well-placed law enforcement officials in New York that the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn was on the verge of collapse due to major questions about the credibility of his accuser.

Parisians awoke Friday to a fresh maelstrom of debate about Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s future, split between supporters of his return to the political fold and opponents arguing that the case had revealed aspects of his personality that should preclude him from high office, whatever the outcome in New York.

“People are not going to forgive him. At a political level, he is dead,” said Agnès Bergé, 44, who works for a law firm in the same up-scale district. “It would be terrible for France if he came and if we give him some credit again.” But Sophie Leseur, 50, an artist, said the saga could turn Mr. Strauss-Kahn into a “martyr.”

“His reputation is tarnished forever,” said Marie Chuinard, 25, a legal adviser. “I think he can come back to French political life, but internationally he is burned.”

His arrest had also led to soul-searching about the treatment of women in France, inspiring a new readiness among women to challenge male dominance. Responses to the latest news seemed to suggest that the debate had become less clear-cut.

“This is a slap in the face of the feminists,” said Marc Marciano, 53, a trader in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a Paris suburb.

The news from New York spread rapidly across television, radio and Web news outlets. Blaring headlines spoke of what the conservative Le Figaro called a “thunderbolt” and left-leaning Libération termed a “coup de théâtre.”

Martine Aubry, the Socialist Party leader, was quoted on the Web site of the magazine L’Express as expressing “immense joy” at the report from New York. “Speaking as a friend of DSK, I hope the American justice system will establish all the truth and allow Dominique to get out of this nightmare,” she said, using the initials by which Mr. Strauss-Kahn is widely known in France. She declined to comment on a scheduled primary vote to choose a Socialist candidate or her own candidacy, L’Express said.

The development seemed to offer more ambiguous tidings for President Sarkozy and his allies, and some said they had been premature in celebrating Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s political demise.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s elimination from presidential politics as a result of the sexual assault charges brought disarray to the Socialists, opening up the opposition party to new internecine strife over the choice of a presidential candidate. But the possibility of his return — in some form or another — as an influence on the presidential race brought a new set of questions for the government.

“I think Sarkozy and his friends are going to have a very unpleasant morning,” said Claude Bartolone, a Socialist legislator.

A presidential spokesman said the French leader had no immediate comment on the matter. “The French government respects the processes of the American justice system and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” the spokesman said. François Fillon, the prime minister, urged people to “wait patiently while American justice does its work.”

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, said the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn had “definitively discredited him as the candidate for the highest office of state.”

Socialist backers of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, by contrast, seemed jubilant.

“I am a happy man, happy for him and for our country,” Jack Lang, a former Socialist culture minister who has ardently supported Mr. Strauss-Kahn since the accusations emerged, said on French television. “You can’t play with the honor and dignity of someone. His life was temporarily broken, his honor put into question.”

If the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn are dropped, he could still play a pivotal role in the upcoming presidential elections, Mr. Lang said. “He could still play a major role in France, without being candidate,” he said. “This would give an extra chance for victory.”

Mr. Strauss-Kahn could even be appointed a minister again under a Socialist president, he added.

Another Strauss-Kahn ally, the Socialist legislator Jean-Marie Le Guen, said the developments in New York represented “incredible news” for Mr. Strauss-Kahn and his family. “I believe they will, without doubt, have the impression this morning that they are awakening from a long nightmare,” he said, urging the American justice system to restore his reputation.

François Pupponi, a friend of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, said he had never believed the allegations of sexual assault. “The man they depicted was not the man I knew,” he said.

In several conversations there seemed to be little rancor toward the American justice system, beyond a broad sense that it was, as one French legal adviser put it, “muscular.” But Patrice Randé, 50, the manager of an insurance office, said the case risked stoking anti-American feeling with the impression that the New York police had deliberately humiliated Mr. Strauss-Kahn. “We were made to believe he was guilty, we dropped him, we really bought this,” Mr. Randé said. “I’m shocked that they didn’t take more care,” he said, referring to American prosecutors.

Equally, some people warned against allowing the pendulum of opinion that swung against Mr. Strauss-Kahn to swing back too quickly in his favor. Marie Nury, the owner of a boutique, expressed dismay at the speed with which the reports from New York seem to persuade some people that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was blameless. “I don’t know if he’s guilty or not,” she said, “but this doesn’t prove he is innocent.”

At the Paris headquarters of the Socialist Party and in the nearby parliamentary offices near the National Assembly, speculation about the implications of a potential collapse of the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn was rife.

With registration for the Socialists’ October primaries in full swing as a July 13 deadline approaches, some began lobbying for a suspension of the process to give Mr. Strauss-Kahn a chance to re-enter the race.

Others cautioned that the latest round of unexpected revelations may not be the last.

“Let’s all stay calm. The version of the story has changed before and could change again,” said Gerard Le Gall, a Socialist and public opinion expert. “It’s too early to draw any conclusions.”

Another senior Socialist, who declined to be identified, said the party could not afford knee-jerk reactions. “What if we all embrace him again and then he turns out to be guilty after all? We have to wait for a clear and definite outcome before making any decisions,” he said. “Our voters have lost trust not just in him but the party. We have to be careful.”

Former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who was selected by the I.M.F. on Tuesday to take over Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s position as managing director, was not immediately available for comment.

“This doesn’t change anything,” said an I.M.F. official close to the transition. “It’s unusual, but he has resigned. She’s the new managing director, the staff are waiting for her. She has a full plate and she’s ready to hit the ground running.”

“The staff still have a job to do,” the official said. “After the initial shock, everyone has focused on work.”

Some Parisians mulled over the impact of the entire affair on their land’s reputation, and concluded that it would never quite recover.

“People used to think about baguettes when they thought about France, now they think DSK,” said Djamila Salah, a social worker. “For France’s reputation it would be good if he was rehabilitated by the American justice system — even if a little doubt would always remain.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/europe/02france.html?hp

murky, not just because of this legal case, but also because, as a result of this case, the French learned a lot about his past behaviors toward other women, and that affects their view of him

ALLEGE BEHAVIORS!!!!!!

Dominique Strauss-Kahn admitted 'error of judgment' in 2008 sex case
Chris McGreal in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 May 2011

The arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault and attempted rape charges has prompted fresh scrutiny of the International Monetary Fund's dismissal of accusations that its director abused his power to pressure a subordinate into sleeping with him three years ago.

The charges against Strauss-Kahn for allegedly assaulting a hotel chambermaid have brought fresh revelations about the French former finance minister's treatment of women, including his alleged assault of a journalist in 2002.

They have added weight to claims by Piroska Nagy, a Hungarian-born economist, that the fund's director engaged in sustained harassment when she was working at the IMF that left her feeling she had little choice but to agree to sleep with him at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2008.

In a letter to investigators, she described Strauss-Khan as "a man with a problem that may make him ill-equipped to lead an institution where women work under his command".

Strauss-Kahn, who is being held at the notorious Rikers Island penal complex in New York, was denied bail on Monday at a court appearance when prosecutors successfully argued he was a flight risk. The head of the IMF denies the charges against him.

Nagy has accused Strauss-Kahn of abusing his position to make advances to her. She said there were several occasions when he called her with "inappropriate suggestions".

She alleged he persistently called and emailed on the pretext of asking questions about Ghana's economy but then used sexual language and asked her out.

Nagy, who now works for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, expressed her concern about Strauss-Kahn's behaviour in an October 2008 letter to Robert Smith, a partner at the law firm of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, which led an investigation on behalf of the IMF after the affair became public. "Despite my long professional life, I was unprepared for the advances of the managing director of the IMF. I did not know how to handle this; as I told you, I felt 'I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't'," she wrote.

Nagy said that, under the sustained pressure, she made the mistake of letting herself be dragged into a brief affair.

She wrote that she had no doubt Strauss-Kahn abused his position to gain access to her.

Nagy wrote that she had a high regard for Strauss-Kahn as a leader and a man with a vision of how to tackle the global financial crisis, but she feared he was a man with a problem, making him unsuited to head an institution in which he had authority over women.

Strauss-Kahn admitted the affair after Nagy's husband found out about it and told the IMF. He apologised, described it as an "error of judgment" but added that "I firmly believe that I have not abused my position". The investigation concurred and the IMF took no action against Strauss-Kahn other than to say that he had shown poor judgment.

But Nagy vigorously disagreed with that conclusion, accusing the law firm investigators in a letter of sidestepping the central issue of sustained harassment by Strauss-Kahn. Nagy ended the affair after her husband became aware of it and left the IMF shortly afterwards.

Nagy clearly feels bruised by the investigation, not only because her claims that Strauss-Kahn abused his position to pressure her into sex were not taken seriously but because there was a series of leaks intended to favour the IMF director's version of what happened.

Nagy said she was reluctant to co-operate with an internal IMF investigation because she feared publicity would hurt her family as well as Strauss-Kahn.

But after Smith was hired as an independent investigator, Nagy said she overcame her hesitation. However, leaks to the press backed Strauss-Kahn's claim he had not put pressure on Nagy. She expressed disquiet that the leaks were intended to steer attention away from Strauss-Kahn's abuse of power.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/17/dominique-strauss-kahn-piroska-nagy/print

It is looking like the real victim is not only DSK but the economic welfare of the whole world and she is lucky that she lied to state law enforcement not federal law enforcement otherwise she would be looking at some serous time in prison.

as there is no reason to think/assume that if she is proven to be lying about fact A that strangely she is telling the truth about fact B.