IMF managing director arrested, accused of sexual attack

[dqueue]

Because of a perceived risk of attacks on famous people, Strauss-Kahn will only leave his cell accompanied by a prison-guard, the officials say.

This treatment does him no favors in confinement. If he does have to interact with general population at all, he may be seen as a snitch, requiring "protective custody". Someone is working to send a powerful message. Else, NYPD lacks the ability to provide sufficient protection in city jails?

[brainpanhandler]

Why is it that Americans charge their criminals with multiple crimes for a single criminal action?

And you say you are studying the law?

How do you know he committted a single criminal action?

[brainpanhandler]

Else, NYPD lacks the ability to provide sufficient protection in city jails?

From themselves?

In February 2008, Correction Officer Lloyd Nicholson was indicted after he allegedly used a select group of teenage inmates as enforcers under a regime called "the program," as well as allegedly beating inmates himself. However, "The Program" has been known to exist for well over a decade and is unique to the adolescents. The inmates use it as a test for other inmates and system of control amongst themselves. [19]

On October 4, 2007, the New York City Department of Corrections conceded that "tens of thousands of nonviolent inmates taken to Rikers Island on misdemeanor charges had been wrongly strip-searched in violation of a 2002 court settlement, and were entitled to payment for damages. As many as 150,000 such inmates have been searched at Rikers Island since 2002, lawyers for the inmates said... The policy was kept in place despite a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling in 2001 that strip-searches of misdemeanor suspects were illegal, unless officials suspected that they were carrying contraband..."

[Lead lawyer Richard D.] Emery charged in his papers that department officials "repeatedly resorted to lying to cover up deliberate indifference to the continued practice of humiliating detainees by forcing them to strip naked in groups."[20]

In an alleged July 2008 rape case reported by The Village Voice on August 5, 2008, the alleged victim claimed "that someone entered her cell in the 1,000-bed Rose M. Singer Center while she was asleep, sometime before 6 a.m. on July 3. She says the intruder (or intruders) bound and gagged her with bedsheets and then used a dildo-like object to sexually assault her. Other inmates may have acted as lookouts during the alleged assault. The woman, who was being held on grand-larceny charges for the past three months, was discovered at about 6 a.m. by an Officer and a Captain who were touring the building. The Officer saw her lying on her back on the floor of her cell with bedsheets wrapped around her neck, mouth, and legs. She had also been blindfolded. The incident was reported to central command at 7:30 a.m., and the woman was transported to the Elmhurst Hospital Center. Because she didn't share a cell with anyone, a major question is how the alleged assault happened in the first place. Officials won't talk about the investigation, and there's no word on whether any arrests have been made."[21]

The same Village Voice article also lists a roll call of 2008 scandals at Rikers, including the case of Officers who allegedly passed accused cop killer Lee Woods marijuana, cigarettes, and alcohol; the February indictment of corrections officer Lloyd Nicholson who used inmates as "enforcers", and the April 27 suicide of 18-year-old Steven Morales (who had killed his infant daughter for crying too much) in the high-security closed-custody unit.

On February 3, 2009, The New York Times reported that "the pattern of cases suggests that city correction officials have been aware of a problem in which Rikers Officers have acquiesced or encouraged violence among inmates." The Times added that "There have been at least seven lawsuits filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan accusing Officers of complicity or acquiescence in inmate violence at Rikers, a complex of 10 detention facilities which, along with several other jails around the city, hold about 13,000 prisoners, most of whom are pretrial detainees. None of the seven suits have gone to trial. In the three that were settled, the city admitted no liability or wrongdoing."[22

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikers_Island

[Nordic]

Okay, this is kind of disgusting, but the law considers forced anal sexual assault to NOT be "rape"? And forced oral to not be "rape?"

He's not being officially charged with "rape" because he raped everything BUT her vagina?

WTF?

(Was he doing the Polanski thing, where choosing this was a form of birth control? )

I'd say the law needs some changes.

[Stephen Morgan]

Why is it that Americans charge their criminals with multiple crimes for a single criminal action?

And you say you are studying the law?

How do you know he committted a single criminal action?

Well, I was thinking something along these lines:

The defendant could only be punished for one of the three offenses. That’s because she only had a single criminal intent – to take the victims money.

Well, stretch as much as you like to say that what he did included unlawful imprisonment or whatever he's being done for, but clearly his intent was just to rape her.

[vanlose kid]

Another Woman Steps Up: Former Employee Sent Letter To IMF, Warning Organization About DSK Following Her Own Affair
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/17/2011 15:24 -0400

And so another woman appears on the DSK scene, so far unnamed. As AP reports, "An employee who had a brief affair with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned the organization about his behavior toward women in a letter sent three years ago." And no, this is no the Hungarian Piroska Nagy who almost caused the downfall of DSK if only the bailout crew had had enough brains to do a little more to the "head" than censure him. But it appears that the two are close: "The person who confirmed the existence of the letter is close to the former International Monetary Fund employee, Hungarian-born economist Piroska Nagy. The person declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the matter." As a reminder the so far only known major transgression of DSK, Nagy, had worked at the IMF for decades, and left the organization after the affair with Strauss-Kahn in 2008. An IMF-funded investigation into the affair cleared Strauss-Kahn of wrongdoing but criticized his judgment. If it now turns out that the IMF had been officially warned about DSK, yet completely ignored the charges, we may have another public humiliation ala the SEC and Bernie Madoff, which ultimately will strip the organization of even more "bailout" and dollar-alternative power. Which begs the question: just how far will the powers that be go to make sure the SDR concept is now and forever killed as a USD-replacement currency?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/anothe ... -following

*

[Stephen Morgan]

Okay, this is kind of disgusting, but the law considers forced anal sexual assault to NOT be "rape"? And forced oral to not be "rape?"

He's not being officially charged with "rape" because he raped everything BUT her vagina?

WTF?

(Was he doing the Polanski thing, where choosing this was a form of birth control? )

I'd say the law needs some changes.

In a lot of jurisdictions rape is specifically classed as penis-in-vagina. Obviously rape of men and anal rape and so on can the be charged as sexual assault or some other alternative crime. Buggery, in this country.

[8bitagent]

See, anal sex is only a "true crime" when them thar homos do it. Maybe that's why thousands of priests went unpunished, since many were not forcing traditional intercourse (this whole sentence should be green, but I dont know how to color code it)

Anyways, top MSNBC headline news: Was Khan a victim of a conspiracy?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43060148/ns ... nd_courts/

Well if anything, least people are starting to hear about the IMF again.

[JackRiddler]

(this whole sentence should be green, but I dont know how to color code it)

Mark and use the "Font colour" button in full edit mode. Click on the color you like. It will insert the tags, like so:

[ color=#00FF00 ](this whole sentence should be green, but I dont know how to color code it)[ / color ]

With the spaces removed, it renders:

(this whole sentence should be green, but I dont know how to color code it)

.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Just heard on the radio that DSK has been transferred to Rikers Island until the Grand Jury meets on the 20th.

Rikers! That's a serious hard core prison. I can understand the judge not granting bail, since he is a foreigner with lots of money and would be considered a flight risk. But Rikers ain't no country club. He better be careful not to drop the soap when he showers.

Perhaps he's innocent after all, this wouldn't be the normal way to do things with such a rich alleged rapist. And being a foreigner with lots of money I would normally expect to make him more likely to be granted bail, as he has assets which can be confiscated. That's why the likes of Michael Jackson don't spend time on remand before trial, because of the money at stake if they skip bail.

Also, jokes about prison rape, especially in a thread about rape, are in somewhat bad taste.

Yes right on Stephen, even if the jokes about about a potential rapist, two wrongs don't make a right.

[eyeno]

Right now I am viewing this as "taking one for the team". Time may prove me wrong and I have no idea at this point. We shall see...

[JackRiddler]

.

(Cross-post)

Two pieces on Counterpunch weigh in on Strauss-Kahn and the IMF. Diane Johnstone gives plenty of red meat on the fraud of the neoliberal "socialist" and his privatizing, bankster-aiding ways. Dean Baker correctly hammers the IMF but lends credence to the ludicrous proposition that Strass-Kahn's talk of reforming the IMF was meant as anything other than a cosmetic move made necessary by the hatred the whole world now feels for the IMF and Strauss-Kahn's bankster class. He asks if DSK's career demise means "The End of Reform?" despite no evidence of reform (other than talking about it) in the IMF's actions under DSK.

The only reform worthy of the name would be the IMF's abolition.

Here:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21495&p=402733#p402733

.

[lupercal]

No Expectation of Justice
Does Sarkozy Like Seeing France Get Dragged Through the Mud?
By Mike Whitney - Information Clearing House - May 17, 2011

May 17, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- "American justice" is an oxymoron like "military intelligence" or "jumbo shrimp". The two words just don't fit together, in fact, they're polar opposites. The truth is, there is no expectation of justice in the United States today. Even the thought of it is laughable. Just look at the way the Dominique Strauss-Kahn matter has been handled. The former IMF chief "allegedly" tried to rape or force a maid at his fancy hotel to perform oral sex. As a result, he was arrested and thrown in jail.

Fine. But in America "what a man is accused of" is not supposed to matter. He's still entitled to a fair trial.

So, what are the chances that Strauss-Kahn will get a fair trial now that he's been blasted as a serial sex offender in about 3,000 articles and in all the televised news reports?

Not very good, I'd say.

Let me ask you: Why was DSK stripped of his suit and tie and paraded in handcuffs in front of the media after a sleepless night in the hoosegow? Were New York's finest trying to demonstrate their deep appreciation for the rule of law or did they think the overweight 62 year old was going to make a run-for-it?

And why is the media so quick to judge the man? Do they know something we don't know? Is there some reason why they trust the claims of an unidentified maid who no one has even talked to over Strauss-Kahn, or are they just following orders from on-high?

We all know that the media is an old hand at destroying people's lives and reputations. That's what they do and they're damn good at it. Have you talked to Bill Clinton recently? How about Scott Ritter, Michael Schiavo or Martha Stewart? The joke about the Bush administration was that, even though they were never tough on crime, at least they got Martha Stewart "off the streets".

Pretty funny, eh?

So, here's something to chew on: Anyone who thinks that the media is anything more than a stick that's used to beat political enemies is a fool. This whole incident has been set up to make Strauss-Kahn look like a perv before he even gets a chance to open his mouth. Which is why there's really is no expectation of justice. The whole thing is a farce. His goose is already cooked.

But doesn't the hypocrisy bother you a bit? I mean, do you remember any Wall Street bankers being dragged off in handcuffs when they blew up the financial system and bilked people out of trillions of dollars? Do you remember Tony Hayward being thrown in jail when BP dumped millions of gallons of untreated crude into the Gulf of Mexico? Do you remember anyone in the Bush administration doing time for leading the country into a war that killed over 1 million Iraqi civilians and displaced 4 million more?

The people who make the rules aren't bothered by fraud, rape, murder or any other crime. Hell no. It just doesn't matter to them because there are no consequences. They do what they want and let someone else worry about it. But that rule doesn't apply to Strauss-Kahn, which makes me think that he must have pissed off some very important people who decided he needed to be taught a lesson.

That's it, isn't it? He stepped on the wrong people's toes. Now he's a dead duck.

Here's a thought experiment: Let's say the shoe was on the other foot. Let's say that the head of the World Bank Robert Zoellick (who is an American citizen) was arrested in France on similar charges. Let's say he was kept up all night, plopped in a raincoat, then frog-marched in front of the media flanked by a small army of cops.

What do you think Obama's reaction would be? Do you think he'd let anyone drag the US through the mud like that or do you think he'd grab the nearest phone and read Sarkozy the riot act? And how long do you think it would be before every newspaper and every pundit and every politician in America was demanding Zoellick's immediate release?

I'll bet it would it take no more 24 hours before the F-16's were screeching over Paris pounding the Louvre and Notre Dame with laser-guided missiles and bunker busters sending terrified civilians scampering for cover.

No one fu**s with the Godfather. No one. Not unless they want a whole lotta trouble.

So, why hasn't Sarkozy called Obama? Does he like seeing France get kicked around in public? Is that it? Or was Sarkozy in on this little scam from the get-go, and now he's just thrilled-to-death that his biggest rival in the upcoming presidential race has been knocked out of the running?

Funny how that works, isn't it? It almost seems like it was planned.

In any event, Strauss-Kahn's career is over. My guess is that the reforms he planned to announce at the upcoming Bretton Woods conference would have cost some very wealthy people alot of money, and they didn't like that. So they had him removed.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e28116.htm

[semper occultus]

please god let me live long enough to see all the other financial rapist reptillians sent where they belong in hand-cuffs ....

[lupercal]

^ yes I'd like to see what would happen if one of these clowns were caught in the same situation. My guess is that a) no one would hear a peep, even if the chambermaid complained to the police chief, mayor, both senators and governor, all assholes, every day for a week, and b) if it did come out it would be a big comedy and everyone would get a chuckle. Hypocrisy, thy name is media.