Former IMF chief pleads not guilty to sexually assaulting hotel maid
Former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, entered a plea of not guilty on Monday to charges he sexually assaulted a New York hotel maid in a case that cost him his job and, quite possibly, a shot at the French presidency.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, was one of the most influential people in the global economy and widely considered to be a leading contender for the French presidency until his shocking arrest three weeks ago on an Air France plane about to depart New York for Paris.
Wearing a dark suit, Mr. Strauss-Kahn arrived at the courthouse with his wife, French television journalist Anne Sinclair, walking beside him, arm-in-arm.
The couple walked past a throng of media and a large group of hotel workers there in solidarity with the woman who said Mr. Strauss-Kahn attacked her. “Shame on you,” they chanted.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on charges including attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn was asked what plea he would enter to the charges and he told the court clerk, “Not guilty.” The next date in the case at New York Supreme Court before Judge Michael Obus was set for July 18.
Praised for his role tackling the 2007-09 global financial crisis and attempts to keep Europe’s debt crisis under control, Mr. Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund a few days after his May 14 arrest in the first-class section of an Air France plane, minutes before it was to depart New York for Paris.
He was accused of brutally assaulting a 32-year-old African immigrant a few hours earlier when she came to clean his suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel in Midtown Manhattan, apparently believing it had been vacated.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who swapped his fine suits for prison garb before being granted bail a week after his arrest, said through his high-profile lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, that he intends to fight hard.
Mr. Brafman indicated in a letter filed in court that he was unhappy with media leaks airing the evidence, which claims to show that the French politician’s semen was found on the maid’s shirt.
In the US pre-trial process known as “discovery,” parties are obliged to answer questions about their opponent’s evidence collection. Prosecutors have told Mr. Brafman that he will be given materials, but in proper time.
In an interview broadcast Sunday, Mr. Brafman told France's M6 television show “66 Minutes” that his client will be acquitted.
“We have a chance to win in this case because I don’t think Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty of the charges. I believe he’s going to be exonerated,” he said, reiterating his earlier predictions. “It is a sincere statement and a good-faith belief in the outcome.”
Mr. Strauss-Kahn spent Sunday hidden away in his luxury rental house in Manhattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood while journalists gathered outside.
The house boasts a gym, a movie theater and other trappings, but Mr. Strauss-Kahn, once seen as likely to topple President Nicolas Sarkozy in France’s next election in 2012, is under 24-hour armed guard and allowed to leave only under restrictive conditions.
The house arrest has given Mr. Strauss-Kahn a high degree of privacy as he huddles with Mr. Brafman, who has represented a number of high-profile stars including deceased pop star Michael Jackson.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest and quick resignation as head of the International Monetary Fund threw the global lender and economic policy powerhouse into disarray just as it grapples with debt crises in the European Union.
Many in France believe that the Socialist Party figure has been mistreated, but the case has also stirred unusually vigorous debate in the country over long-taboo subjects such as sexual harassment.
“The DSK scandal has had a first effect: a kind of omerta is being lifted, in particular among female politicians, who have been freed to denounce certain attitudes,” said expert commentator Stephane Rozes.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who is married to an art heiress and famous former French television journalist, is spending vast sums on his defense. Just the bill for his home detention costs some $200,000 a month, according to prosecutors, while the TriBeCa rental is estimated to cost $50,000 a month.
In addition to Mr. Brafman, Mr. Strauss-Kahn is employing private investigators believed to be digging into the personal life of the maid, who emigrated from Guinea. Lawyers claim to have information that could “gravely undermine” her position, but they have not given more detail.
The prosecution is led by big guns Joan Illuzzi-Orbon and Ann Prunty. Ms. Illuzzi-Orbon is head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s hate crimes unit.
Mr. Brafman has hinted at a possible argument that a sexual encounter did take place, but that it was consensual.
“Ultimately juries treat people fairly in most cases,” Mr. Brafman told M6.
A new IMF chief has not yet been appointed. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Mexican central bank chief Agustin Carstens both want to replace Mr. Strauss-Kahn. John Lipsky of the United States is the acting managing director.
(Sara Ghasemilee, a senior editor at Al Arabiya English, can be reached at: [email protected])