IMF President Dominique Strauss-Kahn last week was widely viewed as heading to the French Presidency. He is now viewed this week as more likely to head to an American jail. In an extraordinary criminal complaint, Strauss-Kahn is described as a sexual predator who spontaneously assaulted a hotel maid. And we thought former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz was an embarrassment.
[UPDATE: Strauss-Kahn has been declared a flight risk and denied bond. Given his effort to leave the country, this is not too surprising. However, it is not clear why an electronic bracelet cannot be used in such a case.]
The account that has emerged resembles an international version of “Bonfire of the Vanities.” The recent case of Moshe Katsav comes to mind where an international leader proved to be a rapist.
What is fascinating is that the IMF was well-aware of Strauss-Kahn’s reputation for affairs with subordinates and his nickname “The Great Seducer.” However, it appears he may be more of “The Great Assaulter” given the account of the 32-year-old maid. Strauss-Kahn, 62, had just checked into the luxury Sofitel hotel in a $3,000 a night suite ( pretty pricey digs for a guy who started his political career as a member of the Union of Communist Students and was the leading Socialist candidate for President of France). Strauss-Kahn allegedly came out of the bathroom naked and chased her down a hallway and forced her into a bedroom. He then reportedly forced her to give him oral sex. She said she was able to break away and escape. She ran and told the staff.
What then unfolded is right out of a movie. Strauss-Kahn left the hotel so fast that he left his cellphone in the room. He was sitting in first-class on a flight to France that was about to taxi to the runway when police arrested him. He was then identified by the woman in a line up.
The contemporary account given by the woman and her injuries treated at the hospital makes for a particularly strong basis for a criminal case. Her selection of Strauss-Kahn in a lineup obviously reinforces that case. Finally, the reportedly rapid departure from the hotel will not sit well with the jury. We have not heard his side of this case but his attorney has a steep climb to get him into a better position. If this allegation is ultimately supported, one might expect to hear of additional cases since this sounds like an individual who was unable to control such impulses. Such extreme cases are rarely isolated and tend to be the end of a pattern. There will be an obvious interest by detectives in any modus operandi evidence and whether he had committed such assaults in the past and gotten away with it. That is not to say that Strauss-Kahn has such a history but this is very extreme alleged conduct and will likely be a focus of the police.
It will also be interesting to see if there is a claim of medication or some other influence producing this violent reaction.
It looks like, either way this goes, the Socialists will have to find another candidate. They might want to start with someone who does not need a $3000 a night hotel room or a criminal lawyer on retainer.
Source: Yahoo
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/business/20imf.html?_r=1&hp
“Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive accusations that he had sexually attacked a housekeeper in a Midtown hotel room.”
“It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of managing director of the I.M.F.,” he said in a statement dated Wednesday and released early Thursday by the I.M.F. “I think at this time first of my wife — whom I love more than anything — of my children, of my family, of my friends.”
anon nurse,
“Interesting… What a louse.”
Agreed – I had to read the article twice just to make sure I had it right. I never really thought much of Ahnuld to begin with but I do feel for the wife and kids.
“Glad to hear that you’re feeling better. I missed your postings and wondered… Thought you were busy with work, life…”
Thanks! Feeling better but now playing catch-up at work and life 🙂
frank:
“I still don’t understand how someone can be in the upper echelon of all these high power banking and finance organizations and still be considered a socialist. There is a disconnect there that I would like to come to terms with.”
why do you think there is a disconnect? Marx clearly said workers are not sophisticated enough to run things and so they would need an elite few to “guide” them.
Socialism is all about the power of the elite few. There is no disconnect.
There is a video interview floating around the Intertubes of Schwarzenegger taking about how much he loved “da tiddeies”. It is an older interview but I believe he was already married at the time it was filmed.
There were constant rumors throughout his time in office of his roaming hands. Those are always tough to evaluate though because politics is involved.
But it appears he was diddling the help, a fine old tradition carried on by the rich and powerful over the weak and powerless since prehistory. It will give him something to talk about with Strom Thurman when he gets to Hell.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/dont-forget-that-other-sex-crime-case/?partner=rss&emc=rss
May 17, 2011
Don’t Forget That Other Sex-Crime Case
By CLYDE HABERMAN
Who’d have ever thought that the rape trial of two police officers would turn out to be the second-most-absorbing sex-crime case unfolding in the Criminal Courts Building in Lower Manhattan? First place, in case you slept though a long weekend, belonged on Monday to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a leading French Socialist and managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who was charged with trying to rape a hotel housekeeper.
The accusations were shocking enough. But some people were almost as gobsmacked by the setting: Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel New York, on West 44th Street. Three thousand is a fierce sum for a night’s rest. They’re raising an interesting breed of Socialists in France.
Interest in this case was huge, even if one were to go only by the enormous crowd of photographers and microphone holders that massed on Centre Street. French was at least as dominant a language as English. Asked if he’d seen anything quite like it, a courthouse security officer thought a bit and said, “Maybe Russell Crowe.” That was in 2005, when the Australian actor was arrested for throwing a fit and, in the process, throwing a phone at a hotel clerk. (What is it about our hotels that brings out the worst in some visitors?)
Overshadowed by the hubbub was a case that may be of more enduring consequence for New Yorkers. As Mr. Strauss-Kahn appeared before a judge on the first floor, the trial of Police Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin L. Mata was winding down in a courtroom 12 stories up. The jury may get the case on Tuesday.
Officer Moreno is accused of having raped a young woman one December night in 2008, and Officer Mata of having helped him. They say no such thing ever happened. Obviously, the six men and six women on the jury will have to sort it all out. But other New Yorkers might do some sorting out as well.
The woman was drunk — totally hammered, according to testimony. The police were called to help her out of a cab and into her apartment on the Lower East Side. One might reasonably think that all they needed to do was to get her home and let her sleep it off.
Instead, while still on duty, the officers went back to the apartment three times that night. Testimony showed that Officer Moreno even made a phony 911 call to create a pretext for returning. He admitted in court to having kissed the woman — chastely, he insisted, on the forehead and maybe a shoulder. He admitted to having cuddled with her in bed, she wearing only a bra but he in full uniform. He admitted to singing a Bon Jovi song to her, “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
He did all this, Officer Moreno testified, because he was concerned about her heavy drinking, and wanted to help. If anything, she was the sexual aggressor, he said, but he honorably resisted. Oh, and he kept all of this from his partner, Officer Mata, said to have been asleep in the next room.
“I don’t kiss and tell,” Officer Moreno said in court. How gallant. The “kiss and tell” line impelled even his own lawyer to describe him in closing remarks to the jurors as “maybe a bit of a simpleton.”
Whatever the verdict on the rape charges, New Yorkers might well form conclusions of their own. Whether or not there was violent sex, when did the city authorize its officers to become self-appointed social workers — let alone with, literally, a bedside manner?
Just as the French are trying to figure out what to think and do about Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the people of this city may wonder if they want their police force to keep employing — and arming — anyone who is acknowledged by his own representative to be a simpleton.
end of excerpt
SL,
Interesting… What a louse.
Glad to hear that you’re feeling better. I missed your postings and wondered… Thought you were busy with work, life…
Apparently, about a decade ago Ahnuld fathered a child with a woman who worked at his residence … and his wife just found out earlier this year …
anon nurse, I did not coin it. Heard it when he was first running for governor, and he was accused of sexually harassing some women. They said he grabbed them.
Swarthmore mom,
Regarding, “the gropinator”…
About Vanessa Williams (and while accepting an award — Academy Award?), he once said, “Isn’t she delicious?” While she may be a perfectly lovely woman, I found the comment to be salacious and in very poor taste. It told me everything that I needed to know…
(Did you coin that term? Very clever…)
Isabel, The gropinator has been dodging accusations for years. I guess Maria stayed until his last term was over.
Re flight risk:
Someone pointed out that Christophe could have gone straight to Teterboro airport (NJ) and hired a learjet to fly straight to France after he left the Sofitel. No passport control at Teterboro. On the other hand, I don’t know if they have learjets (with approved flight plans) waiting at Teterboro like taxis outside a hotel…
I guess we will never hear any answer from Kay. Pretty strange posts, I thought.
I agree with SWM’s posts. Now Christophe’s defenders are coming out of the woodwork claiming that the maid consented. Doesn’t look like it to me, based on what I’ve read. Meanwhile, the Terminator mess is hitting the fan….
I still don’t understand how someone can be in the upper echelon of all these high power banking and finance organizations and still be considered a socialist. There is a disconnect there that I would like to come to terms with.
pete,
I had to ‘Google’ Casey Anthony since I had forgotten about her (given the name ‘Casey’, I actually thought the news was about a male before I did the search). Professor Turley has posted several articles about her. Let us know when the verdict is rendered–if ever–since her case has become a legal saga.
FFLEO
i live in florida. i can’t get a weather report without hearing about casey anthony
pete sayed:
“is this guy gonna get a court date or do ya’ll just want to string him up now”
_________
Yeah, dadgumhitall, let’s strang him up, for “Pete’s” sake! That’s as good a reason as any, aint hit?
Seriously, many people throughout cyberspace are jumping to conclusions and the conspiracy theories abound. I know that we all say ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but that is not really how the human mind works, is it?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-16/imf-chief-strauss-kahn-ordered-held-without-bail-on-sex-assault-accusation.html Strauss-Kahn to spend the night at Rikers Island.
is this guy gonna get a court date or do ya’ll just want to string him up now
rcampbell:
“I know a very wealthy fellow who’s favorite expression was: All I want is to have everything I want the way I want it—and to have it now.”
he is a child who has lost touch with reality. He must be a real fun guy to be around.