Former IMF Chief Strauss-Kahn Released

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 3, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

         Released without bail from house arrest, former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn walked out of court, the prosecutors rocked by allegations against his 32-year-old Guinea accuser.  On May 14, a Sofitel Hotel chambermaid accused the 62-year-old IMF chief of sexual assault while servicing his posh room on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  Within hours after the alleged assault, Strauss-Kahn was found by New York Port Authorities sitting on the tarmac in an Air France flight at JFK Airport awaiting takeoff.  His abrupt departure from the Sofitel Hotel raised eyebrows, especially given the maid’s accusations.  When the New York Police Dept. confirmed the presence of Strauss-Kahn’s semen on the maids dress and carpeting, the NYPD thought it had an open-and-shut case.  New revelations dug up by Strauss-Kahn’s defense team about lies on the victim’s 2002 political asylum application raise doubts.

            Straus-Kahn’s defense lawyer William Taylor contended that the former IMF chief and possible French Socialist Party presidential candidate engaged in “consensual” sex with the Sofitel employee.  “It’s a great relief,” said Taylor.  “It is so important in this country that people, especially the media, refrain from judgment until the facts are all in,” asking the public to suspend disbelief.  Whether or not the unnamed maid lied on an asylum application doesn’t explain what his semen was doing on her dress and the hotel carpet.  Following his arrest off the Air France flight, Strauss-Kahh barely said a peep of protest to the media regarding what his defense team describes as outrageously fabricated accusations.  Most falsely accused defendants protest loudly their innocence, something not seen by Mr. Strauss-Kahn.  His attorney now asks the public to believe the maid engaged in a consensual sexual encounter.

            Strauss-Kahn’s defense team did their job digging up as much dirt on his accuser as possible.  Prosecutors know that if their witness lacks credibility, it’s difficult to get a “beyond a reasonable doubt” conviction.  Dredging up her tax returns, the defense claims she named someone else’s child for a false tax deduction.  Well that’s well and good, it has nothing to do with what happened in Strauss-Kahn’s Sofitel hotel room May 14.  Given the 30 year age difference, it’s unlikely the couple met at the bar—or somewhere else—and decided they were attracted enough to get involved.  If it were truly consensual, it’s more like that Strauss-Kahn solicited a sex with the hotel maid for money.  While neither side makes any sense, the idea that Strauss-Kahn engaged in a purely consensual sexual relationship is preposterous.  There’s simply no plausible basis for a consensual relationship.

            Rejecting the defense’s theory, the accuser’s attorney Ken Thomson said his client never changed one detail of the alleged sexual assault.  “From day one she has described a violent sexual assault that Dominique Strauss-Kahn committed against her,” said Thomson.  Describing the attack as violent also doesn’t add up because of the age differences between the two.  Looking at Strauss-Kahn, he doesn’t appear to be the violent type or capable of an aggressive attack described by the accuser.  “Those who know Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be surprised by this evolution of events,” said defense attorney Leon Lef Forster, referring to doubts now raised about the alleged victim.  “What he was accused of has no relation to his personality.  It was something that was not credible,” said Forster.  Neither side’s story makes any sense.  Both seem to be covering something up. 

            Whether the truth comes out or not, both sides lack the credibility to tell the whole story.  If a consensual sexual encounter occurred, it’s likely that both sides engaged in a quid pro quo, a kind of swap or exchange for services rendered. Even recent French polls show French citizens don’t believe the victim’s story, they’ve also characterize Strauss-Kahn as a “womanizer,” nicknamed “the great seducer.”  Whatever Strauss-Kahn’s history, it doesn’t mean he would engage in an illegal assault.  Given the convincing DNA evidence, it’s likely that the “consensual” nature of Strauss-Kahns’s relationship involved “pay-to-play.”  His defense team has nothing to say about why Strauss-Kahn boarded a quick flight to Paris immediately following the alleged May 14 sexual assault.  Raising the victim’s lies on her asylum papers or tax returns doesn’t automatically impeach her credibility.

            Dredging up inconsistencies unrelated to the May 14 incident, Strauss-Kahn’s attorney’s have done good job rattling prosecutors, hoping to eventually win a conviction of the former IMF chief.  Given competing versions by Strauss-Kahn’s and the victim’s attorneys, it’s more likely that neither side is telling the truth.  Describing the incident as a “consensual affair” stretches plausible deniability to the breaking point.  There’s no evidence that Strauss-Kahn knew the 32-year-old chambermaid before some event caused his semen to be released on her clothing and the hotel room’s carpet.  Prosecutors don’t want to be blindsided at trial making a case for sexual assault.  Prosecutors know that immediately following the alleged incident, the maid cleaned two rooms before reporting it to her supervisor.  Prosecutors also know that Strauss-Kahn fled the scene and boarded the first flight Air France flight back to Paris.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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