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[kurupetos]

International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of attempting to rape a hotel housekeeper, was ordered held without bail by a New York judge after prosecutors argued he presented a flight risk.

Strauss-Kahn appeared in Manhattan criminal court today, two days after he was taken into custody aboard an Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport as it prepared to depart. Prosecutors asked Judge Melissa Jackson that he be held in custody until trial. Strauss-Kahn faces as long as 25 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges, prosecutors said.

“He has almost no incentive to stay in this country,” Assistant District Attorney Artie McConnell told Jackson at the hearing in a packed courtroom in lower Manhattan. “He has an extensive network of contacts throughout the world.” The judge agreed, saying Strauss-Kahn's presence at JFK airport on the day of the attack “raises concerns.”

The IMF chief is charged with criminal sexual act in the first degree; attempted rape in the first degree; sexual abuse in the first degree; unlawful imprisonment in the second degree; sexual abuse in the third degree, and forcible touching, according to court papers. A potential candidate for the French presidency, Strauss-Kahn, 62, has denied the charges and will plead not guilty, his lawyer Benjamin Brafman has said.

He didn’t enter a plea today.

Wife Flying In

Brafman asked the judge to let his client stay with his daughter in New York while awaiting trial. Brafman said Strauss- Kahn’s wife, television journalist Anne Sinclair, was flying to New York today. His next court appearance was set for May 20.

Brafman said his client's flight had been booked in advance and he was on his way to see the chancellor of Germany. After the hearing, Brafman told hundreds of reporters gathered at the courthouse that he would appeal the bail decision.

The alleged attack on a 32-year-old woman at a Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan occurred May 14, according to the New York Police Department. Strauss-Kahn was picked out of a lineup by the maid, police said.

Criminal Complaint

According to the criminal complaint, Strauss-Kahn “engaged in oral sexual conduct and anal sexual conduct with another person by forcible compulsion.” He allegedly closed the door of the room to keep the woman from leaving, grabbed her breasts and tried to pull down her pantyhose, according to court papers.

“The victim provided a very powerful and detailed account,” McConnell told the judge. He said results aren’t back yet from the crime scene unit’s processing of the hotel room.

Every seat in the courtroom was full and reporters stood waiting in the back as the judge dealt with public urination and drug-possession cases before calling Strauss-Kahn.

The arraignment had been scheduled for yesterday and was delayed after investigators sought a warrant for a physical examination. Strauss-Kahn gave police permission to examine him for physical evidence of scratches and DNA from his accuser, according to Brafman.

The case is People v. Strauss-Kahn, 1225782, Criminal Court of the City of New York (New York County).

To contact the reporters on this story: Karen Freifeld in Manhattan Criminal Court at [email protected].

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mike Hytha at [email protected].

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-1 ... ation.html

[kurupetos]

[Mikiko]

This is the type of people that EU relies on to settle the crisis!!!!! How many other such cases were hidden under the carpet no one knows ???? But Good that this came into public eye ...... Lets see what EU officials say ? With all this beaurocracy everything will go under the carpet like nothing happened .. Eu is only good to issue rules and regulations.

[B25]

Nothing has been proven yet, IF, he did it, then he desrves all he gets, but lets hear the guy before you lynch him.

Was he really that stupid, a man in his position to even think this????

[Mikiko]

According to what I ve read He forgot his mobile on the room after he rush to leave the room and police found it so there is evidence . This was also posted on politis and phileleftheros papers two days ago .And media all over the world would NOT make such a big fuss If there was no real evidence ...... Just make a google search strauss Kan and sex crime to see how many newspapers have posted it.

[Kikapu]

This IMF guy just got a little carried away when the maid walked into his room while he was listening to this song. !

[Kikapu]

Or maybe he thought she was a "Sex Bomb".!

[Kikapu]

And then he said to her....

[supporttheunderdog]

This is the type of people that EU relies on to settle the crisis!!!!! How many other such cases were hidden under the carpet no one knows ???? But Good that this came into public eye ...... Lets see what EU officials say ? With all this beaurocracy everything will go under the carpet like nothing happened .. Eu is only good to issue rules and regulations.

1) We should remember the IMF is not an EU institution but an international banker of governments with 187 member states:

2) Every man is innocent till proven guilty - let us first have a trial

3) Otherwise I agree with you on several other points -
a) that such matters are too often swept under the carpet when the so-called great and good and are involved
b) that the EU is very good at sweeping things under the carpet in particular what might be misuse and theft of EU funds, which is OUR money on a massive scale - why have the EU accounts not been signed off for many years?
c) That it is a bureaucratic monster good only for making rules for the rest of us while providing a gravy train for the Eurocrats that make our public parasites seem like rank amateurs.

[Lit]

IMF chief's hypocrisy

May 17, 2011 4:54 p.m.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/122063809.html

The initial news of the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, chief of the International Monetary Fund, understandably centered around his alleged sexual assault on a maid and the probable evaporation of his presumed candidacy for the French presidency. But something else should not escape our attention: The alleged incident happened in a $3,000-a-night hotel room in New York - fancy digs for a bureaucrat.

After all, this is the same Strauss-Kahn who constantly talks about everyone else's behavior. Two months ago, he criticized the resumption of Wall Street-like bonuses in the European banking sector by saying, "What I find scandalous is that the banks today have returned to their pre-crisis behavior, especially in pay and bonuses...the types of remuneration in the financial system are verging on crime." He told the crisis-roiled Greek government to "change your behavior." He said last month, "We need a tax on financial activities to force this sector to bear some of the social costs of its risk-taking behavior."

He also claimed to be the new face of a "totally different" IMF that two years ago launched a loan program for the world's poorest nations. The IMF was conceived at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference to shore up global financial markets but often has been criticized of either inattention or making loans that impose unfair austerity upon developing countries.

In a 2009 session at an Istanbul convention, a Zambian activist for the poor told Strauss-Kahn, "Most ordinary citizens still view the IMF as a very heavy, uneven-handed institution. I think that for the impoverished majority, we still see it as an institution that fails to be accountable, and when I say that, I mean as an institution that fails to take responsibility for some of the consequences of the impacts of its policies - budget austerity should not curtail pro-poor spending and social safety nets."

Strauss-Kahn responded by saying this was "an outdated view of the fund." He added that in all the programs the fund established for poor countries during the financial crisis, "I explicitly asked governments to implement measures in favor of the most vulnerable, to build safety nets to avoid (a situation where) fixing financial questions will have too big a consequence on the poorest part of the population."

Now, Strauss-Kahn is accused of trying to rape a hotel maid, who told police she entered the penthouse suite to clean it, thinking it was empty. Instead, she said, Strauss-Kahn emerged naked, grabbed her, locked the door and forced her to perform oral sex. The woman said Strauss-Kahn tried to remove her underwear, but she escaped and told hotel staff. Strauss-Kahn was arrested at Kennedy Airport minutes before he was to take off for Paris.

The IMF leader, who receives about $500,000 a year in compensation, had long been criticized or mocked in France for being a "champagne" or "caviar" socialist, simultaneously talking equality and uplift while living a lavish lifestyle. Meanwhile, there was at least one prior allegation of aggressive behavior. But like many entitled, powerful men before him, Strauss-Kahn's career stayed on course, as his talents on the job apparently seduced the IMF to look the other way.

Whether he or the IMF was paying the $3,000 a night for the hotel room, it's an outrageous show of opulence by someone at an agency that exists in part to assist the world's poor. The IMF should pick a new leader who not only preaches austerity but practices it.

Derrick Jackson is a columnist for The Boston Globe. Email [email protected]