USA: IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in police custody after allegedly commiting a sex attack at a New York hotel

Record ID: 555841

  • Title: USA: IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in police custody after allegedly commiting a sex attack at a New York hotel
  • Date: 16th May 2011
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 14, 2011) (REUTERS) ( NIGHT SCENES) POLICE AND DETECTIVES SHAKING HANDS EXTERIOR OF POLICE FACILITY WINDOW OF POLICE FACILITY POLICE SIGN VARIOUS OF POLICE AND MEDIA STANDING OUTSIDE NYPD VAN PULLING OUT OF FACILITY POLICE SIGN AND CAR PULLING INTO FACILITY REPORTER WRITING NOTES PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PICTURES
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4IRRG9JLJAIU28OI3YAKEKPQF
  • Story Text: IMF chief and possible French presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken into police custody on Saturday (May 14) and is expected to be charged on Sunday (May 15) with an alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York City, police said.
    NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that the anticipated charges will include criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.
    Strauss-Kahn, one of the world's top international diplomats responsible for handling financial crises, was removed from an Air France plane and taken into custody 10 minutes before the flight was to take off for Paris from John F Kennedy International Airport, New York police spokesman Paul Browne said.
    A 32-year-old maid filed a sexual assault complaint after fleeing the $3,000-a-night hotel suite at the Sofitel in Times Square where the alleged incident occurred, Browne said.
    Strauss-Kahn, 62, who has been considered a possible Socialist Party candidate in the French presidential election next April, left the hotel after the incident, the police spokesman said.
    According to New York state law, a criminal sexual act includes forcibly compelling someone to engage in oral sex.
    The allegation will be a major worldwide embarrassment to the IMF, which has authorized billions of dollars in lending programs to troubled countries and has played a major role in the euro zone debt crisis to step down in August when his term ends.
    The IMF managing director has yet to say whether he will run for president, although French opinion polls put him as a clear winner over conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy if the two faced off in an election.
    Strauss-Kahn was on his way to Europe for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday.
    Strauss-Kahn took over the International Monetary Fund in November 2007 for a five-year term scheduled to end next year.
    Before that, he was a French finance minister, member of the French National Assembly and a professor of economics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.
    The IMF declined to comment and IMF board officials told Reuters they had not been informed officially of the incident.
    Strauss-Kahn has faced controversy before. In October 2008, he apologized for "an error of judgment" for an affair with a female IMF economist who was his subordinate. An inquiry cleared him of harassment and abuse of power, although he was warned by the fund's board of member countries against further improper conduct.
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