Strauss-Kahn, IMF Chief Resigns; Indictment Looms In Sex Attack Charges

Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman has suggested a consensual sex defense. He will have a mountain to surmount–the alleged victim is reported to be a devout Muslim.

[New York News]

Charged with raping and sexually assaulting an immigrant hotel worker from Guinea last Saturday, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief has resigned.

In his statement, Strauss-Kahn says: “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.”

Referring to the seven-count sex attack and unlawful imprisonment charges against him, the Frenchman, who was denied $1 million bail and is locked up on Riker’s Island, said: “I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.”

Most newspapers, including The New York Times on a sub-headline to its front-page story today missed the point, reporting of Strauss-Kahn that “HE DENIES THE CHARGES.” Strauss-Kahn in his statement clearly does not “deny the charges;” he denies “the allegations that have been made” against him, which is very distinct from the formal charges by the government. 

His lawyer Benjamin Brafman has suggested a consensual sex defense. He will have a mountain to surmount–the alleged victim is reported to be a devout Muslim. He is accused of forcing the victim into oral and anal intercourse, in addition to fondling her breasts and groping her crotch.

The alleged victim’s lawyer, Jeff Shapiro, in media accounts says she’s been interviewed numerous times by police and prosecutors and that her account of the alleged sex attack remains sound.

Strauss-Kahn, later Thursday afternoon, will have another bail application hearing before before Judge Michael J. Obus in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The alleged victim testified Wednesday before a grand jury, which is expected to indict Strauss-Kahn on Friday. Of convicted of the top charges, he faces a quarter century behind bars. At age 62, it would amount to a life sentence.


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