Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

IMF President Strauss-Kahn Arrested For Assault of New York Hotel Maid

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

127 thoughts on “IMF President Strauss-Kahn Arrested For Assault of New York Hotel Maid”

  1. Buddha Is Laughing
    1, May 24, 2011 at 11:33 am
    “I think [Tokyo] is lying and it
    ————-

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha! OOOOOOOHHHHHNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

  2. “I think [Tokyo] is lying and it was consensual [destruction] because [Tokyo] enjoyed having [destruction] with her ex-husband who was [NAZI] positive and [Godzilla] is a man also. If [Tokyo] really didn’t want to have [destruction] with him [Tokyo] should have scratched [Godzilla’s] face in anger and hate. I didn’t see any scratches on his face.”

    There. That makes far more sense than Davidx2’s original post.

  3. Looks like it is Troll Time. Davidx2 has a problem and it is not an overload of compassion.

  6. I am aware of cases where the Prosecutor and Police knowingly used DNA Evidence that was planted in order to obtain a conviction….in another case the Prosecutor filed to release to the Defense information regarding skin under the victims fingernails….when the case was on appeal the Appellant counsel obtained the Prosecutors case file to see if there was enough information for Inadequate Assistance of counsel….to the surprise of the Defendant his conviction was overturned…more investigations revealed that this was not the first time that the Prosecutor failed to turn over information which would tend to prove the defendants innocence rather than guilt…..

  7. I see the defense team has their work cut out for them. The ugly on this case goes clear to the bone.

  11. QE3 equals low dollar. The problems in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Italy are causing the dollar to rise.

  12. Well, he was heading to an emergency meeting, at which they were going to discuss further bailouts for Greece, of which he was a propopent, which would stabilize the Euro, which has usually been bad for the dollar. And we all know they need the dollar high to sell QE3.

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m…KWb1A2Xl1aDrwM
    __________________
    The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.

    The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the [public] is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power.’

  13. But if Strauss-Kahn was set up, then it was probably by members of the western bank coalition, that shadowy group of self-serving swine whose policies have kept the greater body of humanity in varying state of poverty and desperation for the last two centuries. Strauss-Kahn had recently broke-free from the “party line” and was changing the direction of the IMF. His road to Damascus conversion was championed by progressive economist Joesph Stiglitz in a recent article titled “The IMF’s Switch in Time”. Here’s an excerpt:
    “The annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund was notable in marking the Fund’s effort to distance itself from its own long-standing tenets on capital controls and labor-market flexibility. It appears that a new IMF has gradually, and cautiously, emerged under the leadership of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

    http://www.prisonplanet.com/imf-chief-strauss-kahn-set-up-for-breaking-free-from-party-line.html

  14. Is not this the purpose of this free thinking blawg…people can have many different ideal and beliefs….One is able to freely post what they wish…..

  16. Here’s a link to an interesting article that I just read at ProPublica:

    Schwarzenegger and DSK: When Powerful Men Cross Lines
    by Tracy Weber
    ProPublica, May 17, 2011
    http://www.propublica.org/article/schwarzenegger-and-dsk-when-powerful-men-cross-lines

    Excerpt:
    As the French agonize over whether Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s star power quashed past allegations, I can respond cynically: Yes, that probably happened. But we should not automatically assume that timelier reporting about Strauss-Kahn’s sexually aggressive behavior (including an alleged violent incident in 2002) would have slowed the 62-year-old Socialist’s march toward the French presidency.

    I speak from experience.

    Eight years ago I was dragged scowling and complaining into an investigation of allegations that Arnold Schwarzenegger—the leading candidate for governor of California—had sexually harassed and molested women, including those who worked on his movies.

    A team of reporters for the Los Angeles Times, where I then worked, had been pursuing the story for weeks and were about to publish a first piece. With the election days away, I was pulled in. At the time I was deep into an investigative project about a troubled Los Angeles hospital that had a history of harming or even killing its patients. Digging into the Terminator’s salacious back story seemed a tawdry detour.

    But the orders came from on high. They needed someone adept at persuading reluctant sources to share traumatic or humiliating experiences. So, out I went crisscrossing Southern California in search of women groped by the Republican candidate for governor. Some declined to speak. Others brusquely said nothing had ever happened.

    But several reluctantly began to describe behavior that appeared to cross every imaginable line. As I interviewed these women, I came to believe in the importance of the story. They were strong, professional, independent people, women like me: competent and assertive.

    Their experiences with Schwarzenegger were double humiliations. First they suffered through the acts themselves: demeaning—often public—groping, unwanted, invasive kisses, crude, belittling comments.

    Far worse, they felt forced by circumstance to let Schwarzenegger behave badly—like an overindulged toddler, as one woman put it. A complaint against the bigger-than-life moneymaker could tank their careers. Not a single woman felt anyone would have taken their side or chastised the star.

    The abuse of power—and the judgments underlying it—were relevant facts for Californians preparing to cast a historic vote. (As was Hollywood’s repeated willingness to look the other way, but that is another story.)

    So, in urging women to go public with their accounts, I was arguing something I truly believed, which was that their stories would be of use to voters.

  17. I have not read the book…seems like a good read…will have to read it soon….

    I have read Graham Greene’s Color of Money and other types….But the EHM seems like a great addition…

    I do like the excerpt…..out of the book…

    Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder.

  18. Regarding, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”…

    It’s well worth the read…

  19. I believe the maid not DKS. He is no socialist or reformer. Look at his lifestyle. Money and power meant everything to him.

  20. AY, if you have not read the book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins, I suggest you do so. You will not like what you read, but the back story behind the way these people do business needs to be understood.

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