The Frenchman who heads the International Monetary Fund was identified in a police lineup early Sunday night by the Manhattan maid who claims he sexually assaulted her, cop sources said.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, once seen as a legitimate contender to be France’s next President, was due to be arraigned Sunday night on charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.
His 32-year-old victim, described by a co-worker as a single mother of African descent, stared down the political star during a police lineup at the Manhattan office of the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit.
The maid told cops Strauss-Kahn was naked when he attacked her as she went to clean his $3,000-a-night room at the Sofitel hotel on W. 44th St. Saturday afternoon, police said.
She said she tried to run away from the randy Frenchman nicknamed “The Great Seducer,” but he chased her down a hallway and yanked her into a bedroom.
He then dragged her into a bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex on him, police said.
“I heard she’s shaken up, but doing okay,” one of her co-workers said Sunday.
Police sources said investigators have no reason to doubt the victim’s story. She has no criminal record and no ties to the silver-haired financial bigshot, who had been running well ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in recent polls.
She’s well-mannered. Quiet,” her hotel co-worker said.
“It’s crazy. It’s horrible. Stuff like this shouldn’t happen.”
Strauss, a lawyer and an economist who is married to a New York-born journalist, was collared late Saturday afternoon on an Air France jet that was about to take off from Kennedy Airport.
“He is going to enter a plea of not guilty, and he denies the charges,” said his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman.
NYPD officials said Strauss-Kahn does not have diplomatic immunity. IMF officials only enjoy such a privilege for acts performed during their official duty, documents show.
Police sources said they believe Strauss-Kahn will be granted bail, but will have to turn over his passport so he can’t flee to France.
His legal troubles bring to mind the case of movie-director Roman Polanski, who fled to France after being accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in California in 1977.
Since then, France has refused to extradite the Academy Award-winning director, citing a clause in a treaty with the U.S. that permits a country to object to the extradition of a citizen.
from:nydailynews
