Exclusive: New Details on Dominique Strauss-Kahn's Maid's Trauma
THE DAILY BEAST: The maid allegedly sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn was so distressed she had difficulty speaking and tried to vomit, sources tell John Solomon. Plus, new details on how her supervisors responded. Related: The timeline of Strass-Kahn’s weekend.

The luxury-hotel maid who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn was found by a supervisor in a hallway where she hid after escaping from the former International Monetary Fund director's room. Hotel workers described her as traumatized, having difficulty speaking, and immediately concerned about pressing charges and losing her job, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The maid also repeatedly spit on the walls and floors of the suite in front of her hotel colleagues as she alleged that Strauss-Kahn locked her in his room and forced her into oral sex acts. That saliva is being tested for DNA markers and could become a crucial piece of evidence in the case, the sources said.

The sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, provided The Daily Beast details of what happened inside New York City's Sofitel hotel in the hour between the alleged attack and when hotel security notified the police, a gap Strauss-Kahn's defense team is certain to question as the case proceeds in court. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers deny any wrongdoing on his part.

The sources said the fact that it only took an hour for the hotel to calm the woman, get her to overcome her difficulty describing what happened, do a thorough interview and get police on scene for forensic testing helped make the case and apprehend the suspect before he fled the country. » | John Solomon* | Saturday, May 21, 2011

*John Solomon is executive editor of the Center For Public Integrity.

Staking Out Strauss-Kahn

Le film de la semaine où tout a basculé pour DSK
De son arrestation à sa remise en liberté sous caution, revivez en images les moments forts de la semaine de descente aux enfers de Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Strauss-Kahn Holed Up under House Arrest in Lower Manhattan
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has finally been released on bail from Rikers Island after residents at the Bristol Plaza, where his wife had rented luxury accommodation, complained that his presence would prompt a media feeding frenzy and it would not accept the Frenchman

Jeffrey Shapiro, le petit avocat des causes civiles

LE FIGARO: PORTRAIT - L'homme qui défie le grand pénaliste Benjamin Brafman aurait hérité de l'affaire DSK par un ami.

À New York

Le contraste ne pourrait être plus frappant entre Benjamin Brafman, l'avocat de Dominique Strauss-Kahn, et Jeffrey Shapiro, celui de sa victime présumée. Le premier est l'un des ténors du barreau new-yorkais, un avocat connu qui défend avec succès les cas indéfendables de mafieux et de célébrités du rap. Le second est spécialisé dans les erreurs médicales et les accidents du travail, avocat civil parmi des milliers d'autres à New York.

S'il ne joue pas dans la cour des grands comme Ben Brafman et si ses clients sont beaucoup moins «glamour», il n'en est pas moins efficace. Sur son site Internet sont affichées ses «victoires»: 22,1 millions de dollars pour la victime d'une erreur médicale lors d'une hystérectomie, 3,75 millions pour un bébé mal soigné à l'hôpital, 3 millions pour un ouvrier atteint d'épilepsie après un accident du travail, etc. «Sachant qu'il touche un tiers de ce que gagne la victime, ce n'est pas mal du tout», estime un de ses confrères, Matthew Galluzzo.

Ben Brafman et Jeff Shapiro, tous deux la cinquantaine passée, ont un point commun: leurs cabinets sont tous deux situés sur la IIIe Avenue à Manhattan, à cinq pâtés d'immeubles l'un de l'autre. À part cela, ils appartiennent à deux mondes très différents. Le premier défend des accusés (présumés innocents) pour leur éviter la prison, le second défend des victimes (présumées) pour les aider à retrouver une vie normale après un traumatisme. » | Par Adèle Smith | Vendredi 20 Mai 2011

LE FIGARO: Me Brafman, l'avocat de DSK rompu aux affaires difficiles : PORTRAIT - Puff Daddy, Jay-Z ou encore Michael Jackson : l'avocat de Dominique Strauss-Kahn est rompu aux combats judiciaires très médiatiques. Réputé coriace, l'homme a un parcours étonnant. » | Par Flore Galaud | Jeudi 19 Mai 2011

LE FIGARO: La bataille judiciaire commence pour DSK: Inculpé par le grand jury, l'ex-patron du FMI doit affronter la perspective d'un procès, alors que de nombreuses informations et rumeurs s'accumulent. Le Figaro fait le point sur ces certitudes et ces zones d'ombre. » | Par Marie-Amélie Lombard | Jeudi 19 Mai 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Moved to 'Unspecified Location' after NY Flat Failed

THE GUARDIAN: Former IMF chief released from jail but unable to move into $14,000-a-month flat as building's residents objected

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been released from jail and sent to an unspecified temporary home in Lower Manhattan where he will be detained under armed guard.

An initial location for Strauss-Kahn to be detained had fallen through as although he may have been granted bail he was finding it difficult to find a new home in New York.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund was hoping to move into a $14,000 (£8,600) a month apartment in the luxurious Bristol Plaza building in the upper east side of Manhattan after a judge bailed him on Thursday while he fights charges of attempted rape of a hotel chambermaid.

Strauss-Kahn's $1m bail stipulates that he must be kept under house arrest, wear an electronic tag to monitor his movements and hire a $200,000-a-month gun-toting security team authorised to use force if he should attempt to flee.

"I expect you will be here when we need you," Judge Michael Obus said on granting bail. "If there is the slightest problem, we can withdraw conditions."

Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, a former journalist, had hired the apartment. But news of this abode attracted a media scrum outside the building and objections from residents. Police had to put up barricades to hold back the TV crews and cameramen.

Speaking anonymously, one resident said the media commotion outside was the first news he had heard of Strauss-Kahn's arrival. "It's outrageous. You [‘d] think someone would have told us. I am going to object to this," he said. » | Dominic Rushe in New York | Friday, May 20, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn 'Mistress' Defends Former IMF Chief

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Spanish writer and socialite has become the first of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged former lovers to come forward and defend the former IMF chief, saying he was never cruel or sadistic to her.

Carmen Llera Moravia, 58, said she had known the high-flying economist "for years" and claimed that he was being subjected to a politically-motivated witch hunt.

"I was never a victim of his, as people have written," said Miss Llera in a letter to an Italian newspaper.

"He is not a cruel or sadistic man, violence is not part of his make-up. He likes sex, but so what? It's not a crime."

Mrs Moravia wrote a book of poetry five years ago in which she described a lover who liked to be sadistic in bed. The man in the book 'Gaston', was thought to be Mr Strauss-Kahn, with whom she is believed to have had a relationship between 2003 and 2005. One of Mr Strauss-Kahn's middle names is Gaston.

The book of poems describes a woman being shoved up against a wall by Gaston, recounts how she tried in vain to escape his advances and refers to his "violence" and taste for "sadistic sexual pleasure".

But Miss Llera, who was born in Pamplona but now lives in Rome, said the character was "a literary invention" and had nothing to do with the French presidential contender.

She said she did not know what happened between Mr Strauss-Kahn and the Guinean maid he is alleged to have assaulted in a hotel room in New York.

Mr Strauss-Kahn faced seven charges in a US court earlier this week relating to an alleged sexual assault on a 32-year-old woman.

He has denied all the charges against him.

Miss Llera, the widow of Alberto Moravia, a famous Italian novelist, claimed Mr Strauss-Kahn was being made a "scapegoat" by puritanical Americans. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Friday, May 20, 2011

Anne Sinclair, une fortune aussi brillante que ses yeux bleus

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: AFFAIRE DSK | Pour lui, cette journaliste de 62 ans aux célèbres yeux bleus a abandonné une carrière brillante, subi sa réputation d'homme à femmes et déjà assumé en 2008 son écart de conduite mondialement médiatisé avec une économiste du FMI.

Brune, élégante, celle qui attirait des millions de téléspectateurs lorsqu'elle réalisait des interviews politiques sur la chaîne privée TF1, est aussi une femme fortunée.

Son argent devait servir les ambitions politiques de DSK. Il financera les conditions draconiennes de sa liberté surveillée: appartement loué à Manhattan, équipements de sécurité, caution et garantie d'un montant total de 6 millions de dollars.

Petite-fille d'un riche marchand d'art

Née à New York, cette petite-fille d'un riche marchand d'art juif, Paul Rosenberg, qui avait fui aux Etats-Unis devant l'avancée des nazis, est l'héritière d'une immense fortune.

"Je pense d'abord en ce moment à ma femme, que j'aime plus que tout", a dit DSK dans le communiqué annonçant sa démission du Fonds monétaire international.

En pénétrant jeudi dans la salle du tribunal de New York, au milieu d'une forêt de caméras, droite et digne, Anne Sinclair a offert la plus vibrante des preuves d'amour à son époux accablé par les accusations de tentative de viol et agression sexuelle.

La main dans celle de la fille de DSK, Camille, elle s'efforce de ne rien laisser paraître. Seulement quelques regards vers son mari, et ce baiser furtif échangé d'un geste, à quelques mètres l'un de l'autre.

"Je ne crois pas une seule seconde aux accusations qui sont portées contre mon mari. Je ne doute pas que son innocence soit établie", avait-elle déclaré dimanche, solide et ferme malgré l'humiliation.

"Nous nous aimons comme au premier jour". Cette phrase, elle l'avait écrite sur son blog, lorsqu'en 2008 déjà, il avait fallu sauver l'honneur de Dominique Strauss-Kahn après son faux pas au FMI. » | AFP | Vendredi 20 Mai 2011

DSK : le récit d'une audience capitale
DSK est inculpé mais placé sous liberté surveillée. Les avocats de l'ancien patron de FMI ont mutlipliés les garanties pour le faire sortir de Ryker's Island, l'île prison ou il séjournait depuis mardi.

LE FIGARO: À quoi va ressembler la vie de DSK en résidence surveillée : Bracelet électronique, surveillance par caméra et gardes armés, qui consigneront ses visites et ses faits et gestes… Lefigaro.fr revient sur les termes draconiens de l'assignation à résidence visant l'ancien patron du FMI. » | Par Constance Jamet | Vendredi 20 Mai 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Dominique Strauss-Kahn: wife and daughter in first public appearance: "How is he?" Anne Sinclair asked quietly, after the judge had called a recess. "Depressed," said William Taylor, her husband's attorney. "He hates this." » | Jon Swaine, New York | Friday, May 20, 2011

WELT ONLINE: Strauss-Kahn wohnt mit Fußfessel bei seiner Tochter: Für die Freilassung bis zum Prozess verhängt der Richter strenge Vorgaben und eine hohe Kaution. Für letztere kommt ausgerechnet die Ehefrau des Ex-IWF-Chefs auf. » | Autor: Uwe Schmitt | Freitag, 20. Mai 2011

Strauss-Kahn und die Folgen: Das Ende der sexuellen Ausnahme

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Libido dominandi? Der Skandal um den ehemaligen IWF-Präsidenten Dominique Strauss-Kahn könnte in Frankreich eine Kulturrevolution in Gang setzen. Feministische Stimmen drehten den Diskurs.

Viele Franzosen glauben an eine Verschwörung. Heute würde Alfred Dreyfus nicht der Spionage für Deutschland bezichtigt, sondern in einen Sexskandal verwickelt. Es ist die Rache für Roman Polanski. Julian Assange hätten sie das gleiche Schicksal nicht erspart. „Gelyncht“ habe man Dominique Strauss-Kahn, den alle nur DSK nennen, polterte Jack Lang live aus Cannes: „Es hat ja keinen Toten gegeben.“ Und überhaupt, schrieb Bernard-Henry Lévy: Warum ging das Zimmermädchen entgegen allen Gepflogenheiten allein in die Suite? Von allen amerikanischen Eigenheiten haben Besucher das Funktionieren der Justiz am wenigsten verstanden.


Das wusste schon Tocqueville, der über die Demokratie in Amerika schrieb. Ihn zitiert Pierre Beyleau im „Figaro“. Der Journalist bezeichnet die Reaktionen seiner Landsleute als „seltsame Mischung“: Sie besteht aus dem „genetischen“ Antiamerikanismus der Franzosen und der Empörung der „französischen Nomenklatura, die es nicht fassen kann, dass einer der Ihren behandelt wird wie ein gewöhnlicher Autodieb in Brooklyn“. In den Vereinigten Staaten sei das Recht „die Grundlage des Staates“, in Frankreich dient es zur „Aufrechterhaltung der sozialen Ordnung“. Der konservative „Figaro“ schlägt klassenkämpferische Töne an und kämpft für die Gleichheit, die Linke lobt im Verdruss über die amerikanische Barbarei die französischen Gefängnisse – mit hundert Suiziden pro Jahr. Ihre Version der Verschwörung: der amerikanische Kapitalismus gegen den französischen Sozialdemokraten, als den sie Strauss-Kahn allerdings nie wirklich akzeptiert hatte. » | Von Jürg Altwegg, Paris | Freitag, 20. Mai 2011

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Fotoshooting auf dem „Perp Walk“: Im Fall Strauss-Kahn prallen Kulturen aufeinander: Amerika und Europa haben verschiedene Vorstellungen von den Rechten des Angeklagten. Ist die Zurschaustellung Strauss-Kahns eine „mediale Hinrichtung“? Zum „perp walk“ werden nicht nur Täter eskortiert, deren Schuld gerichtlich erwiesen ist. » | Von Katja Gelinsky | Donnerstag, 19. Mai 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Release of Photographs Prompts Further French Anger
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Photographs released of Dominique Strauss-Kahn have prompted further anger in France about the treatment of the former presidential hopeful.

The mug shot of the 62-year-old, which was released with his charge sheet, was taken more than 24 hours after he was arrested on charges of sexual assault on a New York hotel chambermaid. It shows him looking exhausted, his eyes downcast and half-closed.

A second photo, obtained by the New York Daily News pictured the former IMF chief in his cell wearing the sleeveless blue smock, which is said to be too bulky to make into a noose and too tough to tear. Mr Strauss-Kahn is said to be on suicide watch after he reportedly "did or said something" to alarm officials during a mental health evaluation.

Several French newspapers and websites refused to publish the photos.

RMC radio said the photo in his cell breached the presumption of innocence of a "man accused of rape, but not yet judged."

"It profoundly shocked us. It responds to the deep instincts of voyeurism and a desire to commit a media and popular lynching. But is contrary to the democratic and republican spirit," the radio said on its website.

Many in France were already outraged at Mr Strauss-Kahn being paraded before the cameras in a "perp walk" before being given the chance to defend himself in court. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, May 19, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Former IMF Head Bailed
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Dominique Strauss-Kahn was granted bail on Thursday after he was formally indicted over accusations he tried to rape a hotel maid.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus said that MrStrauss-Kahn, 62, can be released on $1 million cash bail, and placed under 24-hour home detention with electronic monitoring - conditions that had been proposed by his lawyers.

The judge also said Mr Strauss-Kahn must have one armed guard at all times at his own expense and have a $5 million insurance bond.

His wife, French television journalist Anne Sinclair, and his daughter Camille Strauss-Kahn had arrived at the court arm in arm. Mr Strauss-Kahn arrived in court looking tired and was wearing a blue shirt, no tie, and a grey jacket.

The indictment, which was made by a grand jury, means formal charges have been brought and the case can proceed to trial if, as expected, he pleads not guilty.

Assistant District Attorney John McConnell told the court: "The proof against him is substantial. It is continuing to grow every day as the investigation continues." » | Jon Swaine, New York | Thursday, May 19, 2011

IMF Chief Resigns Amid Sex Charges
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund, as he prepares for a second bail hearing on Thursday - hoping to win his freedom while he awaits trial on allegations of sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of attempting to rape a hotel chambermaid in New York.

He is on suicide watch at Rikers Island prison after a judge rejected his first attempt at bail.

His lawyers are offering $1 million bond and home confinement.

Prior to the scandal, Strauss-Khan [sic] was widely expected to run against French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the next elections.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: IMF Head 'Hired Prostitutes from Manhattan Madam'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Dominique Strauss-Kahn hired prostitutes from the "Manhattan Madam" who infamously also served Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former Governor of New York, she claimed on Wednesday night.

Kristin Davis said she provided young women for the IMF chief in 2006, as he ran for the French Socialists' presidential nomination, and that one complained about his "aggressive" behaviour.

"He was a client of my agency," she told The Daily Telegraph. "When men abuse women I'm no longer going to protect their identities".

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been charged with sexually attacking a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Manhattan Sofitel on Saturday. He denies the claims and is being held in Rikers Island prison.

Miss Davis, 35, who claims to have a long list of celebrity clients, said Mr Strauss-Kahn called her directly on her mobile phone and paid $1,200 cash for two-hour sessions in hotel rooms.

"He wanted an 'All-American girl', with a fresh face, from the mid-West," she said. "A girl in January 2006 complained he was rough and angry, and said she didn't want to see him again". » | Jon Swaine, New York | Thursday, May 19, 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Kristin Davis: Manhattan Madam 'who supplied Dominique Strauss-Kahn with escorts': Dominique Strauss-Kahn hired prostitutes from the “Manhattan Madam” who also served Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former Governor of New York, Kristin Davis has claimed. Here is a profile of the escort agency owner. » | Andrew Hough | Thursday, May 19, 2011

My comment:

Whilst this man has got a reputation of being a womanizer, and whilst his sexual appetite may be as large as his intellectual appetite, there are certain aspects of this story which simply do not seem to ring true. I have asked the question before: Where is this woman getting the money from to pay for a high-flying New York lawyer? But there are many other apparent inconsistencies, too. At first they said she was a devout Muslim, but photos of her show that she wears short-sleeve dresses, she doesn't cover her hair, and lives in a home for HIV sufferers. In addition, she is a single, unmarried mother. This doesn't add up. These are not the hallmarks of a devout Muslimah.

In addition, it was first stated that she knew exactly who DSK was. Now they are trying to say that she didn't have a clue who he was. By all accounts, he was a regular guest at the Sofitel in Manhattan. How come she didn't know who he was? She had been working there for several years. News of celebrities and famous people travels like wildfire through the corridors of hotel staff. It is simply difficult to swallow this supposed ignorance on her part. In fact, front desk would in all probability have informed her to be extra careful when making up DSK's penthouse suite. That's how it works in exclusive hotels, and more especially for regular, famous customers.

Whilst so many people commenting on newspapers are only too ready to convict DSK even before his trial, I prefer to keep an open mind. Being a womanizer and paying for prostitutes – all of which is certainly nothing to be proud of – in and of itself does not make him guilty in this particular case.

I can't help but have a nagging doubt in my mind that he might have been set up for the purposes of notoriety and fortune. We all know how Americans love a great story, and we all know how fabulously wealthy people there can become when they have a humdinger of a story to sell to the media. And this story is one big humdinger. Whatever the facts of the story, it is to be hoped that the truth will come out in the court. But one thing is for sure: This young chambermaid will not have to clean rooms in any hotel for much longer. I hope her wheelbarrow is large enough to carry the pots of gold to the bank which will soon be coming her way. – © Mark

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Maid Lives in Apartment Block for HIV Sufferers

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The hotel chambermaid who alleges she was sexually attacked by Dominique Strauss-Kahn lives in an apartment block used exclusively for people with HIV or Aids, it emerged on Wednesday.

The maid, who works at the Manhattan Sofitel, claims that on Saturday the IMF managing director locked her in his $3,000-a-night suite, attempted to rape her and forced her to give him oral sex.

The maid was on Wednesday night due to testify before a New York grand jury, which is considering whether or not there is enough evidence to prosecute Mr Strauss-Kahn. If it decides there is, the grand jury, which sits in secret, will issue an indictment that will form the basis of the prosecution in Mr Strauss-Kahn's trial.

The 32-year-old Guinean, who is not being named due to the nature of the alleged attack, has lived in an apartment in The Bronx, the northernmost borough of New York City, since January this year.

The property, where she lives with her 15-year-old daughter, is rented out by the Harlem United Community Aids Center, which provides services including housing to local HIV-positive people.

Typically an adult in the household must be HIV-positive or have Aids to be eligible for one of the group's properties. The maid lived in another Harlem United property from 2008 to this year. » | Jon Swaine, New York | Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Affaire DSK : haro sur l'Amérique !

LE POINT: Le traitement judiciaire infligé à Dominique Strauss-Kahn réveille en France un vieux fond d'antiaméricanisme toujours prêt à resurgir.

"Ce qu'un étranger comprend avec le plus de peine aux États-Unis, c'est l'organisation judiciaire", notait Tocqueville. Depuis l'arrestation de DSK, les Français sont abreuvés de savantes exégèses sur le fonctionnement de la justice américaine.

Des avocats, professeurs de droit et spécialistes de tout poil se relaient inlassablement - au risque de lasser - pour expliquer doctement le cheminement compliqué de la procédure qui frappe le patron du FMI. Nos compatriotes ne devraient plus rien ignorer des subtilités de l'arraignment (lecture de l'acte d'accusation) du grand jury, du rôle du procureur, de celui des avocats, des arrangements possibles. » | Pierre Beylau, rédacteur en chef monde | Mercredi 18 Mai 2011

Strauss-Kahn: Brilliant or Criminal?

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Maid Experienced 'Extraordinary Trauma'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Manhattan hotel chambermaid who was allegedly sexually attacked by Dominique Strauss-Kahn has had her 'world turned upside down', her lawyer said.


In his first public comments since taking on the 32-year-old Sofitel maid's case, Jeffrey Shapiro said the trauma she experienced during and after the alleged assault had been "extraordinary".

The maid alleges that when she arrived to clean the IMF managing director's suite at noon on Saturday, he locked her inside, attempted to rape her and forced her to give him oral sex.

Before the alleged attack, she lived in a small flat in The Bronx, the northernmost borough of New York City, with her teenage daughter.

"Her world has been turned upside down," said Mr Shapiro. "This is a person who was a hardworking woman, she's a single mother supporting a 15-year-old young woman. They live together.

"And she was grateful to have a job, through which she could provide food and shelter for the two of them," he told CNN. » | Jon Swaine, New York | Tuesday, May 17, 2011

IMF's Strauss-Khan under Suicide Watch
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is now on a suicide watch after spending his first full day in a New York City jail.

The International Monetary Fund chief is accused of trying to rape a hotel maid.

Strauss-Kahn is under increasing pressure to resign.

Timothy Geitner, the US treasury secretary, says he's obviously not in a position to run the institution.

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey reports from New York.


EURONEWS: US Treasury Chief Calls on IMF to Replace DSK: The media frenzy continues to swirl around Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The pressure has mounted to such an extent that the Secretary of the US Treasury now says the IMF should appoint an interim chief to replace the 62-year-old Frenchman. (+video) » | Wednesday, May 18, 2011

THE GUARDIAN: 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 » | Associated Press | Wednesday, May 18, 2011

La deuxième épouse de DSK : «C’est impensable et impossible»
lePARISIEN.fr: «Épouvantable. Abracadabrantesque. » Jointe hier par téléphone, Brigitte Guillemette, deuxième épouse de Dominique Strauss-Kahn ne trouve pas d’autres mots pour commenter le maintien en détention de l’homme qui a partagé sa vie dans les années 1980. « Il a proposé de laisser son passeport, tous ses papiers d’identité, une caution de 1 million de dollars.

Comment considérer ces garanties insuffisantes? » s’interroge cette spécialiste en communication et qui ne souhaite pas « trop en dire pour laisser parler Anne (NDLR : Anne Sinclair, l’épouse de DSK depuis 1991) et les avocats de Dominique. » » | Violette Lazard | Mardi 17 Mai 2011

Related »

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Second Wife Says New York Sex Attack 'Unthinkable'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Dominique Strauss-Kahn's second wife has admitted her former husband had an eye for the ladies but that it was "unthinkable and impossible" he would have raped a chambermaid.

The 62-year old International Monetary Fund chief and French presidential hopeful has been remanded in custody on Rikers Island after being denied a $1 million bail and faces sexual assault charges.

As graphic details of his alleged attack on the 32-year old Sofitel hotel maid emerged, Brigitte Guillemette, whom he married in 1984, leapt to her ex-husband's defence.

"The facts related by the American police are not compatible with the man I know and with whom I lived for more than ten years," she said.

Camille, the pair's daughter – one of Mr Strauss-Khan four children – is a PhD student at Columbia University and met her father for lunch in a New York restaurant "minutes after his alleged assault".

Mrs Guillemette said that she did not deny her husband was a charmer. "But that doesn't mean to say he could have done what he is accused of doing. I don't think I've ever seen him lock a door. He's someone who is gentle.

Violence is not part of his temperament. He has many faults, but not that one." Referring to the lunch he had with Camille, she said: "Can you imagine that a father could do what they accuse him of and then go for lunch with his daughter a few minutes later?

"It makes no sense. It's unthinkable and impossible," she added. Continue reading and comment » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Tuesday, May 17, 2011