This is taken from MSNBC.com
IMF leader arrested after alleged sex attack on NY hotel maid
NEW YORK — The leader of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was taken into custody on Saturday, minutes before he was to fly to Paris from John F. Kennedy International Airport, NBC station WNBC reported.
Strauss-Kahn, a possible 2012 candidate for president of France, was pulled from his first-class seat on an Air France flight by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and turned over to Manhattan detectives, a Port Authority spokesman told The New York Times.
He was accused of a sodomizing a maid at a Times Square hotel earlier in the day, the authorities said. He has not been charged but had retained an attorney and was not making statements to police, authorities said.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly crept up behind a 32-year-old maid after she entered his room and forced her to perform oral sex on him, sources told the New York Daily News. The New York Post said he was naked and had emerged from the bathroom.
The woman broke free and ran out of the room, WNBC said. Strauss-Kahn quickly headed for the airport, sources told the Daily News.
New York police top spokesman Paul Browne said Strauss-Kahn left his cellphone and other personal items in his Sofitel hotel room.
"It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.
Strauss-Kahn was apprehended at 4:40 p.m. EDT by two Port Authority detectives who suddenly boarded Air France Flight 23, as the plane idled on the tarmac, John P. L. Kelly, an agency spokesman, told the Times.
"It was 10 minutes before its scheduled departure," Lelly said. "They were just about to close the doors."
Kelly said Strauss-Kahn was traveling alone and was not handcuffed during the apprehension.
The Post said he was turned over to NYPD officers from the Midtown South precinct, and the case is being investigated by the Special Victims Unit.
William Murray, a spokesman for the IMF in Washington, said the IMF had no immediate comment on the reports of Strauss-Kahn's arrest. Socialist party spokespeople could not be reached for comment.
The victim was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where she was being treated for trauma, the Post said.
Strauss-Kahn is a married father of four. His third wife, Anne Sinclair, is a well-known American-born French TV journalist.
Strauss-Kahn, leader of France's Socialist Party, was scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Sunday.
Three years ago, Strauss-Kahn was accused of having a fling with a former underling at the Davos international forum, the Daily News said. In October 2008, he issued an apology to the IMF staff.
"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 IMF board found his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected a serious error of judgment." The board found that the relationship was consensual.
The economist, Piroska Nagy, left the fund as part of a buyout of nearly 600 employees instituted by Strauss-Kahn to cut costs, the Times reported. She took a job with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Associated Press said.
On Friday, French President Nicholas Sarkozy was accused of organizing a smear campaign against Strauss-Kahn by focusing on his rival's lavish lifestyle, including buying suits from the same tailor who outfits U.S. President Barack Obama, the Post said.
Rejected by the French Socialists as their presidential candidate in 2006, Strauss-Kahn gained international recognition as France's finance minister in 1997-99. He's a possible challenger to Sarkozy in the 2012 election.
He is credited with preparing France for the adoption of the euro by taming its deficit and persuading then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to sign up to an EU pact of fiscal prudence.
A former economics professor, Strauss-Kahn joined the Socialist Party in 1976 and was elected to parliament in 1986 from the Val-d'Oise district, north of Paris. He went on to become mayor of Sarcelles, a working-class immigrant suburb of Paris.
His first government post was industry minister under former President Francois Mitterrand. As finance minister, he reduced France's debt repayments through a raft of privatizations including the sale of shares in France Telecom SA and Air France.
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.
IMF leader arrested after alleged sex attack on NY hotel maid
NEW YORK — The leader of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was taken into custody on Saturday, minutes before he was to fly to Paris from John F. Kennedy International Airport, NBC station WNBC reported.
Strauss-Kahn, a possible 2012 candidate for president of France, was pulled from his first-class seat on an Air France flight by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and turned over to Manhattan detectives, a Port Authority spokesman told The New York Times.
He was accused of a sodomizing a maid at a Times Square hotel earlier in the day, the authorities said. He has not been charged but had retained an attorney and was not making statements to police, authorities said.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly crept up behind a 32-year-old maid after she entered his room and forced her to perform oral sex on him, sources told the New York Daily News. The New York Post said he was naked and had emerged from the bathroom.
The woman broke free and ran out of the room, WNBC said. Strauss-Kahn quickly headed for the airport, sources told the Daily News.
New York police top spokesman Paul Browne said Strauss-Kahn left his cellphone and other personal items in his Sofitel hotel room.
"It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.
Strauss-Kahn was apprehended at 4:40 p.m. EDT by two Port Authority detectives who suddenly boarded Air France Flight 23, as the plane idled on the tarmac, John P. L. Kelly, an agency spokesman, told the Times.
"It was 10 minutes before its scheduled departure," Lelly said. "They were just about to close the doors."
Kelly said Strauss-Kahn was traveling alone and was not handcuffed during the apprehension.
The Post said he was turned over to NYPD officers from the Midtown South precinct, and the case is being investigated by the Special Victims Unit.
William Murray, a spokesman for the IMF in Washington, said the IMF had no immediate comment on the reports of Strauss-Kahn's arrest. Socialist party spokespeople could not be reached for comment.
The victim was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where she was being treated for trauma, the Post said.
Strauss-Kahn is a married father of four. His third wife, Anne Sinclair, is a well-known American-born French TV journalist.
Strauss-Kahn, leader of France's Socialist Party, was scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Sunday.
Three years ago, Strauss-Kahn was accused of having a fling with a former underling at the Davos international forum, the Daily News said. In October 2008, he issued an apology to the IMF staff.
"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 IMF board found his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected a serious error of judgment." The board found that the relationship was consensual.
The economist, Piroska Nagy, left the fund as part of a buyout of nearly 600 employees instituted by Strauss-Kahn to cut costs, the Times reported. She took a job with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Associated Press said.
On Friday, French President Nicholas Sarkozy was accused of organizing a smear campaign against Strauss-Kahn by focusing on his rival's lavish lifestyle, including buying suits from the same tailor who outfits U.S. President Barack Obama, the Post said.
Rejected by the French Socialists as their presidential candidate in 2006, Strauss-Kahn gained international recognition as France's finance minister in 1997-99. He's a possible challenger to Sarkozy in the 2012 election.
He is credited with preparing France for the adoption of the euro by taming its deficit and persuading then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to sign up to an EU pact of fiscal prudence.
A former economics professor, Strauss-Kahn joined the Socialist Party in 1976 and was elected to parliament in 1986 from the Val-d'Oise district, north of Paris. He went on to become mayor of Sarcelles, a working-class immigrant suburb of Paris.
His first government post was industry minister under former President Francois Mitterrand. As finance minister, he reduced France's debt repayments through a raft of privatizations including the sale of shares in France Telecom SA and Air France.
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.
