IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn accused of attempting to rape NY hotel maid

NEW YORK — The leader of the International Monetary Fund was pulled from an
airplane and arrested Sunday in connection with the violent sexual assault
of a hotel maid, New York police said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken off the Air France flight at John F.
Kennedy International Airport by officers from the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey about 10 minutes before it was to take off for Paris.

He was turned over to police for questioning Saturday afternoon, said Paul
J. Browne, New York Police Department spokesman.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested at 2:15 a.m. ET Sunday on charges of a
criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment, and was awaiting
arraignment, police said.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Benjamin Brafman told Reuters in an email that the IMF
chief "will plead not guilty."

$3000-a-night suite
The 32-year-old woman told authorities that she entered Strauss-Kahn's suite
at the luxury Sofitel hotel not far from Manhattan's Times Square at about 1
p.m. ET Saturday and he attacked her, Browne said. She said she had been
told to clean the spacious $3000-a-night suite, which she had been told was
empty.

According to an account the woman provided to police, Strauss-Kahn emerged
from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a
bedroom, where he began to sexually assault her. She said she fought him
off, then he dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform
oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear. The woman was able to
break free again and escaped the room and told hotel staff what had
happened, authorities said. They called police.

When New York City police detectives arrived moments later, Strauss-Kahn had
already left the hotel, leaving behind his cellphone, Browne said. "It
looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.

The NYPD discovered that he was at the airport and contacted Port Authority
officials, who plucked Strauss-Kahn from first class on the Air France
flight that was scheduled to depart at 4:40 p.m. ET and was just about to
leave the gate.

The maid was taken by police to a hospital and was being treated for minor
injuries. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was
cooperating in the investigation.

According to New York state law, a criminal sexual act includes forcibly
compelling someone to engage in oral sex.

Browne said Strauss-Kahn does not have diplomatic immunity.

NBC station WNBC reported that Strauss-Kahn would spend the night in a jail
cell at the Manhattan special-victims unit in East Harlem and would be
arraigned Sunday.

Strauss-Kahn was briefly investigated in 2008 over whether he had an
improper relationship with a subordinate female employee. The IMF board
found his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected a serious error of
judgment."

William Murray, a spokesman for the IMF in Washington, said the IMF had no
immediate comment. Strauss-Kahn's offices in Paris couldn't be reached when
the news broke overnight in France, nor could French Socialist Party
officials.

He was supposed to be meeting in Berlin on Sunday with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel about aid to debt-laden Greece, and then join EU finance
ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. The IMF is responsible for
one-third of Greece's existing loan package, and his expected presence at
these meetings underlined the gravity of the Greek crisis.

A married father of four, Strauss-Kahn took over as head of the IMF in
November 2007. The 187-nation lending agency is headquartered in Washington
and provides help in the form of emergency loans for countries facing severe
financial problems.

Bailout efforts
Strauss-Kahn won praise for his leadership at the IMF during the financial
crisis of 2008 and the severe global recession that followed.

More recently, he has directed the IMF's participation in bailout efforts to
keep a European debt crisis which began in Greece from destabilizing the
global economy.

In October 2008, Strauss-Kahn issued an apology to the IMF staff after
accusations that he had a sexual relationship with an IMF subordinate.

"While this incident constituted an error in judgment on my part, for which
I take full responsibility, I firmly believe that I have not abused my
position," Strauss-Kahn wrote in an email to IMF staff.

The board found that the relationship was consensual. The IMF employee left
the fund and took a job with the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development.

Before taking the top post at the IMF, Strauss-Kahn had been a member of the
French National Assembly and had also served as France's Minister of
Economy, Finance and Industry from June 1997 to November 1999.

He had been viewed as a leading contender to run on the Socialist Party's
ticket to challenge the re-election of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Strauss-Kahn, dubbed DSK in France, was seen as the strongest possible
challenger to Sarkozy in next year's presidential elections. Strauss-Kahn
has not declared his candidacy, staying vague in interviews while feeding
speculation that he wants France's top job.