IMF chief charged with sex assault, France in shock

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – IMF chief Dominique  Strauss-Kahn was charged yesterday with trying to rape a New  York hotel maid in a scandal that appeared to wreck his hopes  of becoming France’s next president.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

The sexual assault charges throw the IMF into turmoil just  as it is trying to ease an escalating euro zone debt crisis,  and they turn France’s presidential election campaign upside  down when polls had made Strauss-Kahn a clear front runner.

The charismatic 62-year-old, who led the International  Monetary Fund through the 2007-09 global financial meltdown and  has been central in galvanizing Europe to tackle its debt woes,  for long had the reputation of a womanizer. But the charges he  faces are in another realm.

A maid, 32, said he emerged naked from the bathroom and  sexually assaulted her inside his $3,000-a-night suite at the  Sofitel hotel near New York’s Times Square on Saturday  afternoon.

Strauss-Kahn was expected to go before a state court later  on Sunday. His lawyer said he will plead not guilty.

Police say he fled the hotel after the alleged assault and  a few hours later they pulled him from his first-class seat on  an Air France plane minutes before it was to take off for  Paris.

Strauss-Kahn was charged with a criminal sexual act,  unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape, moving him from  luxurious hotel suite and a glittering public career to scandal  and a bare holding cell in New York’s tough Harlem neighborhood  in the space of a few hours.

The contrast could barely have been more dramatic. At the  Sofitel, Strauss-Kahn’s suite had a conference room, living  room, foyer, spacious marble bathroom and a bedroom with a  sumptuous king-sized bed and feather and down duvet. While he was locked up in Harlem on Sunday, the maid  identified him from a police lineup that included five other  men, a police spokesman said.

Police say Strauss-Kahn does not have diplomatic immunity  from the charges, which if proven could carry a prison sentence  of 15 to 20 years. They have collected DNA evidence from the  hotel suite, The New York Times reported.

The IMF said Strauss-Kahn had been in New York on private  business. He has hired New York lawyer Benjamin Brafman, a  seasoned defense attorney who has successfully represented  several celebrities.

The IMF chief’s wife, well-known French television  personality Anne Sinclair, jumped to her husband’s defense.

“I do not believe for a single second the accusations  leveled against my husband,” she said in a statement.

IMF CRISIS, ELECTION
‘THUNDERBOLT’

The IMF tried to fill its leadership vacuum by naming No. 2  official, John Lipsky, as acting managing director. But the  charges against Strauss-Kahn are a huge embarrassment for an  institution that oversees the global economic system and has  authorized hundreds of billions of dollars of loans to troubled  countries as well as playing a major role in the euro-zone debt  crisis.

The allegations immediately threw France’s presidential  race wide open.

He had not yet declared his candidacy but Strauss-Kahn was  widely expected to run for the Socialist Party and early  opinion polls showed him with a big lead over the conservative  incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is seeking a second term at the  election next April.

“The news we received from New York last night struck like  a thunderbolt,” said Socialist leader Martine Aubry, appealing  for party unity.

France’s government as well as Strauss-Kahn’s political  allies and rivals called for caution and respect for the  presumption of innocence, but his presidential ambitions  appeared to be dead unless the case against him quickly  unravels and he is shown to be innocent.

“All this is completely astounding, immensely troubling and  distressing. If the facts prove true … it’s something  degrading for all women. It’s terrible for the image of  France,” said Francois Bayrou, a centrist opponent.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said her rival‘s  presidential hopes had been crushed.

Christine Boutin, president of the Christian Democrat  Party, suggested Strauss-Kahn may have been set up.

“I think it’s very likely a trap was set for Dominique  Strauss-Kahn and he fell into it,” she told France’s BFM  television. “It’s a political bomb for domestic politics.”