IMF Chief charged with sexual assault

IMF chief and possible French presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken into police custody and is expected to be charged on Sunday with an alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York City, police said.

“We anticipate he is going to be formally arrested and charged in an hour,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said around 11:15 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

“He will be charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.”

Strauss-Kahn, one of the world’s top international diplomats responsible for handling financial crises, was removed from an Air France plane and taken into custody 10 minutes before the flight was to take off for Paris from John F Kennedy International Airport, New York police spokesman Paul Browne said.

A 32-year-old maid filed a sexual assault complaint after fleeing the $3,000-a-night hotel suite at the Sofitel in Times Square where the alleged incident occurred, Browne said.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, who has been considered a possible Socialist Party candidate in the French presidential election next April, left the hotel after the incident, the police spokesman said.

Browne gave reporters an account of events which led to the state charges against Strauss-Kahn. “She told detectives he came out of the bathroom naked, ran down a hallway to the foyer where she was, pulled her into a bedroom and began to sexually assault her, according to her account.

“She pulled away from him and he dragged her down a hallway into the bathroom where he engaged in a criminal sexual act, according to her account to detectives. He tried to lock her into the hotel room,” Browne added.

Browne said Strauss-Kahn does not have diplomatic immunity. He is expected to be brought before district court on Sunday.

According to New York state law, a criminal sexual act includes forcibly compelling someone to engage in oral sex. (Reuters)