IMF chief accused of sex attack on hotel maid
The Associated Press
Posted: May 14, 2011 8:30 PM ET
Last Updated: May 14, 2011 10:01 PM ET
International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, seen at last month's IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington, has been considered a leading candidate to run for France's presidency next year. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)The head of the International Monetary Fund, considered a front-runner to be the Socialist candidate in France's 2012 presidential election, was pulled off an airplane Saturday and taken into custody by New York City police for questioning in connection with the sexual assault of a hotel maid.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken off an Air France flight to Paris moments before it was to depart from John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City police spokesman Paul Browne said.
Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the IMF and a former finance minister of France, has not been charged. He was being questioned by the New York Police Department's special victims office but had retained a lawyer and was not making statements to police, Browne said.
The 32-year-old woman told authorities that she entered Strauss-Kahn's suite at the Sofitel near Manhattan's Times Square at about 1 p.m. ET Saturday and he emerged from the bedroom naked, threw her down and attacked her, Browne said. She broke free and escaped the room and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said. They called police.
When New York City 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," he said.
Police found out he was at the airport and contacted the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, whose officers plucked Strauss-Kahn from the Air France flight as it was about to leave the gate.
The maid was taken by police to an area hospital. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was co-operating with the authorities in the investigation.
2008 affair questioned
William Murray, a spokesman for the IMF in Washington, said the IMF had no immediate comment on the reports of Strauss-Kahn's arrest.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, 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." The board found that the relationship was consensual.
The former economics professor and member of France's National Assembly took over as head of the IMF in November 2007. The 187-country lending agency is headquartered in Washington and provides help in the form of emergency loans for countries facing severe financial problems.
Strauss-Kahn sought the Socialist Party's presidential nomination for France's 2007 election, but was defeated by Ségolène Royal, the first woman to run for president of France for a major party.
French polls have suggested he would unseat incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's vote
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