The sexual-assault case against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be pursued along with an investigation of false statements by his accuser that have “raised concerns,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, accused of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a hotel maid in New York on May 14, was freed from home confinement yesterday while awaiting trial after prosecutors said the case was hurt by his accuser’s “substantial credibility issues.” While prosecutors will keep Strauss-Kahn’s travel documents, his bail was ordered returned and he will be allowed to travel throughout the US According to a letter dated June 30 and filed in court yesterday by prosecutors, the 32-year-old housekeeper from Guinea lied to a grand jury about her actions right after the alleged attack, as well as on her tax returns and in an application for asylum.
Vance said his office’s investigation “raised concerns about the complaining witness’s credibility” and that defense lawyers were given “information that gave rise to those concerns.
“Because our request for substantial bail was based in part on our assessment of the strength of our case at the time of the indictment, we disclosed this information to the court,” he said.
ARMED GUARD
Strauss-Kahn had posted $1 million cash bail and a $5 million bond and, until yesterday, was subject to security conditions that included electronic monitoring and around-the-clock armed guard. After his release from jail on May 20, he was allowed to leave home only for legal, medical and religious purposes.
His next court hearing is scheduled for July 18. “The case is not over,” New York State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus told Strauss-Kahn.
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The former IMF managing director, who has pleaded not guilty, left the courthouse in downtown Manhattan after the hearing, walking through a throng of cameras before getting into a Lexus sport-utility vehicle.
Prosecutors have been conducting a comprehensive investigation of all aspects of the case, Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon told the judge, including the background of the housekeeper and reviews of additional subpoenaed records.
‘CREDIBLE’ CLAIM
At the time of the alleged attack, Illuzzi-Orbon said “we were faced with a credible claim about a serious sexual assault by a civilian witness who made prompt outcry to third parties and had a solid work history with her employer. The fact of a sexual encounter was and is corroborated by forensic evidence. The very brief time period inside the hotel suite strongly suggests something other than a consensual act.”
The investigation “caused us to reassess” the strength of the case, which has been affected by “the substantial credibility issues” of the woman, she said.
Benjamin Brafman, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, said after the hearing that he thought all of the charges will eventually be dismissed.
“We believed from the beginning that this case was not what it appeared to be,” he said.
Kenneth Thompson, lawyer for the alleged victim, told reporters that medical and forensic evidence supports the woman’s account of the assault. He said that evidence includes hospital photos of a vaginal bruise that the woman suffered when Strauss-Kahn grabbed her. The forensic evidence is consistent with the woman’s account that she spit out semen as she fled the room, Thompson said.
‘VIOLENTLY ATTACKED’
The housekeeper entered his room to clean it, and Strauss-Kahn “violently attacked” her, Thompson said.
“The only defense that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has is that this sexual encounter was consensual,” Thompson said. “That is a lie.”
According to the June 30 letter, the woman told the grand jury that after the assault in suite 2806 of the Sofitel in Manhattan, she fled to an area of the main hallway of the hotel’s 28th floor and waited until she saw Strauss-Kahn leave the suite.
She said she then reported the incident to her supervisor, who arrived a short time later, according to the letter, which was sent by Vance’s office to defense attorneys.
FALSE ACCOUNT
“The complainant has since admitted that this account was false and that after the incident in suite 2806 she proceeded to clean a nearby room and then returned to suite 2806 and began to clean that suite before she reported the incident to her supervisor,” according to the letter.