IMF managing director arrested, accused of sexual attack

[lupercal]

French left vents anger at Strauss-Kahn 'lynching'
By Catherine Nicholson (video) - News Wires (text) - Latest update: 17/05/2011


France’s Socialist Party reacted with anger on Tuesday after IMF chief and prominent Socialist Party member Dominique Strauss-Kahn was paraded handcuffed before TV cameras on his way to a US court hearing to face charges of sexual assault. Video link: http://www.france24.com/en/20110517-fre ... pe-charges


REUTERS - French Socialist politicians voiced outrage on Tuesday at the parading of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn handcuffed and unshaven in the United States before he has a chance to defend himself on charges of attempted rape. Arrested on Saturday and charged with sexually assaulting a chambermaid at a luxury New York hotel, Strauss-Kahn was made by police to walk manacled in front of cameras on his way to a courthouse, and his appearance before a judge was televised.

Former Culture Minister Jack Lang described the treatment of the Socialist presidential frontrunner -- whose political career is now in tatters -- as a "lynching" that had "provoked horror and aroused disgust".

The U.S. justice system, he said, was "politicized" and the judge appeared to have been determined to "make a Frenchman pay" by denying the head of the International Monetary Fund bail even though his lawyer had offered to post a $1 million bond.

To many Americans, the handling of Strauss-Kahn reflected an egalitarian tradition that all crime suspects get the same treatment, regardless of their wealth or power.

Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry (pictured above) denounced "degrading images" and said France was lucky to have a law on the presumption of innocence that bars media from showing defendants in handcuffs before they are convicted.

Former Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou, who drafted that law, called the pre-trial publicity "absolutely sickening".

"The power of these images of a Dominique Strauss-Kahn who hasn't been allowed to shave, tired, and not dressed properly, all that offends human dignity," she told Europe 1 radio.

Another respected former justice minister, Robert Badinter, who pushed through the abolition of the death penalty in France, said the IMF chief had been subjected to "death by media".

"Never forget it's not just judges that are elected (in New York), but prosecutors. And the chief of police is elected. And clearly, in public opinion, to exhibit a powerful rich man in the presence of a victim from a very poor background, electorally, it pays off."

'Perp walk'

Conservative politicians mostly refrained from commenting on the images of their political rival, heeding President Nicolas Sarkozy's call to show "restraint and dignity", according to a lawmaker who attended a private meeting with him on Tuesday.

Some media commentators and lawyers said that making Strauss-Kahn take a so-called "perp walk" -- a U.S. tradition of obliging a suspected "perpetrator" to run a gauntlet of media cameras -- appeared designed to humiliate him and perhaps soften him up for a plea bargain.

Previous suspects forced to take a "perp walk" included boxer Mike Tyson, pop star Michael Jackson and Kenneth Lay, the former boss of bankrupt energy trader Enron.

"I suppose there is an element of theatre in it," U.S. attorney Graham Wisner of Patton Boggs in New York, told Reuters Television.

"For the most part in the United States it's a practice utilised by authorities to humiliate suspects... There is at least a perception in this case that a "perp" or suspect is guilty when he walks shamefaced in front of all of the cameras," Wisner said.

Judge Melissa Jackson ordered Strauss-Kahn to be detained in the Rikers Island prison after district attorney Daniel Alonso argued that the IMF chief could flee the United States and there was no legal way to force him to return.

In announcing her decision, the judge noted that Strauss-Kahn had been arrested aboard an Air France plane about to take off for Paris.

U.S. prosecutors cited the case of celebrity film director Roman Polanski, a French citizen whom Switzerland and France refused last year to extradite to the United States. He fled the United States while awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in the 1970s.

One of Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, Dominique de Leusse, told France-Info radio that the French media were flouting the law by running footage of his client in handcuffs and in court.

"The press are having a field day with these images that are contrary to French law. They undermine visibly the dignity of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his presumption of innocence," he said.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110517-fre ... pe-charges

[Peachtree Pam]

The maid's background as described by her lawyer:

[quote]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... -kahn-maid


Dominique Strauss-Kahn maid 'feels alone in the world'

Hotel maid from Guinea feels 'threatened' by global attention and wants to remain anonymous, says lawyer


The lawyer for a hotel maid who accused IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual abuse says she feels "alone in the world" and is telling the truth.

Jeffrey Shapiro says his client is from the west African nation of Guinea. He says the woman, who has a 15-year-old daughter, has "no agenda" and did not know even know who Strauss-Kahn was until a day or two after she was allegedly attacked on Saturday.

Her story of being attacked by Strauss-Kahn in the Sofitel hotel suite near Times Square is "consistent" because she is telling the truth, he said.

"There is no way in which there is any aspect of this event which could be construed consensual in any manner," Shapiro said. "This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman."

He continued: "It's not just my opinion that this woman is honest. The New York City police department reached the same conclusion." He added: "This is a woman with no agenda."

Strauss-Kahn, 62, who denies all the charges, has reportedly been put on suicide watch at the infamous Rikers Island prison in New York, after being denied bail on Monday. According to the Associated Press the IMF chief has a whole jail wing to himself, a medical device to make sure he doesn't stop breathing during the night and guards checking him 24 hours a day to make sure he does not attempt to take his own life.

Defence lawyer Benjamin Brafman has said defence lawyers believe the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter". He said "there are significant issues that were already found" that make it "quite likely that he will be ultimately be exonerated".

Shapiro said his client arrived in the US seven years ago from Guinea under "very difficult circumstances,", and lives in the city with her daughter.

The 32-year-old maid told authorities that she thought the suite was empty but that Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway, pulled her into a bedroom and dragged her into a bathroom, police said.

He allegedly forced her to perform oral sex, according to a court complaint. She broke free, escaped the room and told hotel staffers what had happened, authorities said. She was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Shapiro, who was introduced to the woman by a friend on Sunday, said that since the incident, she had not returned to her home and saw her daughter for the first time only on Tuesday.

"She's been the victim of a rape and physical assault, she hasn't had a chance to deal with that personally," he said, adding that he was organising for her to see a counsellor.

Shapiro described his role as trying to help her sort out her life and to explain the legal proceedings to her.

"She wants to remain anonymous because she's very much afraid that something could happen to her physically, she feels very threatened by this," he said of all the global attention on the case.

[8bitagent]

He continued: "It's not just my opinion that this woman is honest. The New York City police department reached the same conclusion." He added: "This is a woman with no agenda."

I've been following this story, and while there might be some deep state conspiracy...I just don't think this maid was willingly a honeypot vessel to frameup or entice Khan. I mean maybe thats the case, but I do feel this woman was heavily violated and isn't herself involved in some scam. Now, I question all events, yes. But I agree with Dr Volin, that as much as this *maybe* some shuffling of the deck conspiracy, I think this woman was also violated.

[8bitagent]

We think of France as boo hoo, poor French. Bush and the neocons tried to paint them as sissy scapegoats.

But for those who research history, France is part of the Western globalist sphere of influence. The co-option of the French revolution, the French government of the Rwandan genocide, the occult death ritual killing of Princess Diana in the L'alma tunnel, etc.

[Peachtree Pam]

Another twist in this story:

IMF accuser in apt. for HIV vics

By JENNIFER BAIN and BOB FREDERICKS

Last Updated: 4:20 AM, May 18, 2011

Posted: 3:13 AM, May 18, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have more to worry about than a possible prison sentence.

The IMF chief's alleged sex-assault victim lives in a Bronx apartment rented exclusively for adults with HIV or AIDS, The Post has learned.

The hotel maid, a West African immigrant, has occupied the fourth-floor High Bridge pad with her 15-year-old daughter since January -- and before that, lived in another Bronx apartment set aside by Harlem Community AIDS United strictly for adults with the virus and their families.

The Post has not been able to ascertain whether the maid, 32, has HIV/AIDS because of medical confidentiality laws.

But the agency rents apartments only for adults with the disease. A Harlem United worker said at least one adult in the household has to be HIV-positive or have AIDS to qualify for one of their units. A healthy adult with a child with HIV or AIDS is not eligible.

"The [current] apartment isn't rented under her name. Harlem [Community AIDS] United places their tenants in our building," explained an employee of the apartment building's property manager, Chaim Gross, of Brooklyn.

The maid had previously lived in another High Bridge apartment rented by Harlem United, a source said. She had moved there with her child in 2008.

According to the agency, it is not uncommon for people with HIV/AIDS to move around.

Her lawyer, Jeffrey Shapiro, and a close family friend said the chambermaid is a widow who lives alone with her daughter. Public records list her as the only adult in the current apartment and the only adult having lived in her previous apartment.

Neighbors also say it was just her and the child in both places.

The Harlem United workers who talked to The Post were not specifically addressing the maid's living situation, only their agency's housing policies. Officials at Harlem United declined to comment because of confidentiality.

The woman has accused France's leading presidential contender of forcing her to perform oral sex on him twice and then trying to rape her as she tried to clean his Sofitel hotel room in Times Square on Saturday.

She told cops that after he sodomized her, she spit out his semen on the floor, a law-enforcement source said. Investigators are running DNA tests on the sample.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control: "It is possible for either partner to become infected with HIV through performing or receiving oral sex."

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers declined comment last night.

The humiliated, 62-year-old suspect was ordered held without bail Monday and placed under suicide watch at Rikers Island -- reduced to wearing shoes without laces and a medical device to make sure he's breathing.

"He did not attempt to commit suicide. He went through an evaluation by a shrink, and they put him on watch," a Correction source said of the multimillionaire politico, who has an entire jail wing to himself.

The suspect's defense team has suggested that the pair was involved in a consensual romp.

The alleged victim, whose name is being withheld by The Post, remained in the protective custody of the Manhattan DA's Office.

The woman was under extreme security -- with investigators even intercepting her phone calls to keep her away from possible attempts by Strauss-Kahn cronies to get her to stop cooperating, sources told The Post.

One high-powered lawyer, who was among those trying to reach her to offer to rep her, said, "She could make $6 million, maybe more, just by shutting her mouth."

The maid's close family friend said he received a frantic call from the woman about an hour after her alleged attack, as detectives brought her to the emergency room at St. Luke's Hospital.

"She rang me, and she said, 'Somebody has done something really bad to me. I've been attacked,' " he told the Daily Mail. "She was crying all the time."

Shapiro said his client learned Strauss-Kahn's name only a "day or two" after the alleged attack.

The lawyer added, "There is no civil litigation pending or contemplated at this point.

"She was reunited with her daughter last night," he added.

The developments came as law-enforcement sources said hotel staffers failed to alert cops to the incident for up to three hours -- as Strauss-Kahn fled his room.

Hotel video cameras show the maid running from his room after the alleged attack, which occurred after noon, and into the maid service area on the floor, one source said. There, she called her boss, who arrived 10 to 15 minutes later, and then called another supervisor.

It took 10 to 15 minutes more for that boss to arrive, the source said. Hotel security was then called. About 10 to 15 minutes later, another security worker arrived and called his boss. Meanwhile, Strauss-Kahn apparently fled his room even before the first boss even arrived. It's not clear when cops were finally called. One source said it was after about 3:30 p.m., when Strauss-Kahn called the hotel looking for his cellphone; another said around 2:30 p.m. He was nabbed on a plane just about to depart JFK Airport for France at 4:40 p.m.

A Sofitel rep could not immediately be reached.

Meanwhile, a female reporter for a European paper told the Times of London that last November Strauss-Kahn offered her an exclusive interview, "but I had to go and spend the weekend with him in Paris or somewhere."

"He was incredibly insistent . . . He made it almost explicit that I had to sleep with him for the interview."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/imf_ ... RHw1434HvJ

[Pierre d'Achoppement]

It's unpleasant to think about these things, but I wonder how a 62 year old man could force a 32 year old woman to perform oral sex on him (twice!). I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I find it really hard to imagine, how that is physically possible, the more so since I'd think a 32 year old woman would be on average stronger than a 62 year old man. I could kinda see it if it was on knife- or gunpoint, but that doesn't seem to be the case here (?) Also, it has always been my understanding that you can't become infected with aids through receiving oral sex, I think I even have a sex education brochure that says so.

[Peachtree Pam]

Hints of DSK's defense? (It was consensual)
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/St ... story.html

Strauss-Kahn to admit consensual sex

Dominique Strauss-Kahn will admit he had sexual contact with the hotel chambermaid who alleges he attacked her, but insist it was consensual, his lawyers have indicated.

The International Monetary Fund managing director allegedly locked the maid in his suite at Manhattan's Sofitel hotel on Saturday and forced her to give him oral sex. He was denied $1-million bail and is being held at Rikers Island jail.

In a hint at what may become his main line of defence, Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said at New York criminal court: "The evidence, we believe, will not be consistent with a forcible encounter."

It came as prosecutors, who claim a medical examination of the maid "corroborates her accounts," were alleged to have discovered blood in the hotel room. The brother of the woman, a 32-year-old from West Africa with at least one daughter, said she had phoned him to say "somebody did something really bad to me" after the alleged incident.

The developments offered clues to how lawyers for the prosecution and defence plan to approach the case, starting with its next hearing Friday.

Reports from France that Strauss-Kahn, 62, would claim to have been having lunch with his 26-year-old daughter, Camille, at the time of the alleged attack, have not been backed by his lawyers' statements. Brafman said only that Strauss-Kahn's lunch date was "the reason he was rushing" to leave the Sofitel.

The timeline of Saturday afternoon that was originally given by New York police has also abruptly been changed, with potentially important implications for Strauss-Kahn's trial. While the maid was said to have arrived to clean room 2805-06 at 1: 30 p.m., the criminal complaint against Strauss-Kahn says the alleged attack took place at noon. Strauss-Kahn is then said to have vacated the room at 12: 28 p.m. and left the hotel at about 12: 45 p.m., before meeting someone, reportedly his daughter, for lunch.

He then took a car to JFK Airport, and called the Sofitel to say he had left a mobile phone behind. Police first said this showed he "left in a hurry," but it is now unclear if he had left a phone. By then police officers were at the hotel, responding to a 911 call. They coached hotel staff to tell Strauss-Kahn they did have the phone. "Where are you? We'll get it to you," one reportedly asked. He replied he was arriving at the airport for a flight -a move Brafman said would be "inconsistent with logic" if his client was attempting to flee. The comment triggered an alert to the Port Authority police, who removed Strauss-Kahn from the first-class cabin of the Air France flight at 4: 38 p.m.

Brafman and William Taylor, Strauss-Kahn's other lawyer, declined to confirm on Tuesday whether the IMF chief was admitting to having had sexual contact with the maid. Strauss-Kahn has been forced by investigators to pose naked for pictures, in case he has telltale injuries, and to take a DNA test.

The criminal complaint against Strauss-Kahn alleged he "grabbed the maid's breasts without consent" and "forcibly grabbed" her crotch.

In court, John McConnell, for the prosecution, said an examination of the hotel room suggests "there may well be forensic evidence that will support the victim's version of events."

[lupercal]

file under FWIW:

Was IMF Head Dominique Strauss Kahn arrested over SDR Bonds?
Tribble Ad Agency - May 16, 2011

(snip)

The IMF under Dominique Strauss Kahn has been over the past 3 years been planning its own currency of reserve. Calling on a currency called an SDR (special drawing rights) in focus the point that could be the major issue is the SDR bond that allows the IMF to issue bonds that could (and most likely would) compete with US treasuries.

The moment the SDR BOND becomes popular is the exact moment the US dollar loses its currency reserve status.

But alas, the guy that was pushing this through finds himself behind bars on what some say are bogus charges.

You could imagine what is at stake. The US dollar itself.

If Dominique Strauss Kahn was able to pull this off and use the IMF to draw SDR Bonds you will see a dramatic drop in the value of the US debt. Countries and investors would be buying SDR bonds rather than US treasuries. It will effectively end the USA’s ability to print off the debt.

Instead however we find the leader of the IMF behind bars. Was he setup? Was this engineered to keep the US Dollar as the currency of reserve?

http://www.tribbleagency.com/?p=8026

[lupercal]

curiouser and curiouser . . .

from: "Strauss-Kahn sex charges likely to isolate IMF in debt crisis talks" - Phillip Inman - guardian.co.uk - Monday 16 May 2011

(snip)

Nick Bullman, of advisory firm CheckRisk, said Ireland faced losing one of its champions in the negotiations: "Sarkozy and Ireland's taoiseach, Enda Kenny, have not hit it off well, and the Strauss-Kahn arrest frees Sarkozy to take a tougher line on Ireland's corporate tax rates," he said. France wants Ireland to increase corporate tax from 12.5% to nearer the EU average, in return for a more generous debt package.

In Washington, Strauss-Kahn's absence will be felt, especially among staff from outside the EU and US who saw him as less of a western poodle than predecessors.

In Europe, he argued vociferously for Greece to be cut more slack as it searched for a solution to its huge debts. A meeting scheduled for Monday with Merkel was expected to involve a heated exchange on Greece, with Merkel taking a harder line.

Strauss-Kahn allowed his staff earlier this year to attack the US, its main paymaster, for running a bigger budget deficit while others tried to reduce theirs. He also changed the emphasis of the fund's lending from simply a means to impose neo-liberal capitalism on near-bankrupt victims, to a more sympathetic programme with less micro-management from Washington. At the IMF's most recent conference in Washington, Strauss-Kahn stressed the failure of western governments to promote job creation as a means of safeguarding social democratic structures. He feared the riots in Athens would spread across Europe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011 ... ebt-crisis

hmm..

[Canadian_watcher]

It's unpleasant to think about these things, but I wonder how a 62 year old man could force a 32 year old woman to perform oral sex on him (twice!). I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I find it really hard to imagine, how that is physically possible, the more so since I'd think a 32 year old woman would be on average stronger than a 62 year old man.

There are approximately 100 different scenarios..maybe 500... wherein a 32 year old woman could be overpowered by a 62 year old man. Your saying that it is 'hard to imagine' is likely a simple-minded provocation since I'm sure you could think up at least 3 or 4 without any help.

[Pierre d'Achoppement]

I really can't, well like I said, I could imagine it at knife- or gunpoint, but that does not seem to be the case here. It's unpleasant to ponder these things, but to me it nevertheless seems like a reasonable and to the point question. The hints at his main line of defense, see reply immediately after mine, make it the more so.

[Joe Hillshoist]

^ yes I'd like to see what would happen if one of these clowns were caught in the same situation.

Maybe one did.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Also, if this is a set up.


Who gives a fuck?


Its not like this bloke was "on our side". Its the IMF for fucks sake. The only reform they could do that would help the poor of the world would be to voluntarily disband.

[lupercal]

^ yes I'd like to see what would happen if one of these clowns were caught in the same situation.

Maybe one did.

Yes one did, by the name of Jules Assmange, and we saw what happens when a rat gets caught in a trap -- a nice sugar daddy comes along and springs him. Very instructive.

[Joe Hillshoist]

French left vents anger at Strauss-Kahn 'lynching'
By Catherine Nicholson (video) - News Wires (text) - Latest update: 17/05/2011


France’s Socialist Party reacted with anger on Tuesday after IMF chief and prominent Socialist Party member Dominique Strauss-Kahn was paraded handcuffed before TV cameras on his way to a US court hearing to face charges of sexual assault. Video link: http://www.france24.com/en/20110517-fre ... pe-charges


REUTERS - French Socialist politicians voiced outrage on Tuesday at the parading of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn handcuffed and unshaven in the United States before he has a chance to defend himself on charges of attempted rape. Arrested on Saturday and charged with sexually assaulting a chambermaid at a luxury New York hotel, Strauss-Kahn was made by police to walk manacled in front of cameras on his way to a courthouse, and his appearance before a judge was televised.

Former Culture Minister Jack Lang described the treatment of the Socialist presidential frontrunner -- whose political career is now in tatters -- as a "lynching" that had "provoked horror and aroused disgust".

And seriously, its not a lynching. A lynching is an extrajudicial murder, usually by a bunch of barbarous blokes illegally hang someone, usually after hours of brutal torture, and often cos that someone was black and they were white. An extrajudicial killing. Like John T Williams. He was lynched not this rich prick.

WTF The guy gets arrested for sexual assault and his alleged crimes don't provoke horror and disgust, but the fact hes wearing handcuffs?

"The power of these images of a Dominique Strauss-Kahn who hasn't been allowed to shave, tired, and not dressed properly, all that offends human dignity," she told Europe 1 radio.

Note to whoever said that:

http://www.brainsturbator.com/img/getover_sm.jpg

Another respected former justice minister, Robert Badinter, who pushed through the abolition of the death penalty in France, said the IMF chief had been subjected to "death by media".

"Never forget it's not just judges that are elected (in New York), but prosecutors. And the chief of police is elected. And clearly, in public opinion, to exhibit a powerful rich man in the presence of a victim from a very poor background, electorally, it pays off."

So it fucking should.

And its completely natural for a political enemy to exploit this sort of thing obviously, and quite possible for them to set it up. Some evidence of a set up would be good. So far all we have seen is speculation and an ugly attitude to sexual assault - like that Jack Lang. What a creep.



From what I remember Julian Assange didn't beat the crap out of anyone, drag em into a room and sexually assault more than once, prompting the victim to go straight to the police. And he's still probably going to face extradition anyway (mind you I've been ignoring the media (including the internet) for a couple of months so i dunno whats happening there.)

If he's found guilty of sexual assault then he should be locked up.

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.

This guy is one of those clowns, even if he was set up, a tiff between the ruling class is none of my concern.

The bold bit tho, it happens all the time here. Hypocrisy is the word.