Head Of I.M.F. Arrested On Sexual Assault Charges
Well, this is something you don’t read every day:
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was taken off an Air France plane at Kennedy International Airport minutes before it was to take off for Paris on Saturday and arrested in connection with the sexual attack of a maid at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, the authorities said.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was widely expected to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency, was apprehended by detectives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the first class section of the jetliner, and immediately turned over to detectives from the Midtown South Precinct, which covers the part of Manhattan where the hotel is, officials said.
The New York Police Department took Mr. Strauss-Kahn into custody, where he was “being questioned in connection with the sexual assault of a hotel chambermaid earlier this afternoon,” Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, said Saturday evening.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Mr. Strauss-Kahn had not yet been “formally charged” in the case and was not expected to be arraigned before a judge until later in the evening.
The apprehension came at about 4:40 p.m., when two detectives from the Port Authority suddenly boarded Air France Flight 23, as the plane idled on the tarmac, said John P. L. Kelly, a spokesman for the agency.
“It was 10 minutes before its scheduled departure,” Mr. Kelly said. “They were just about to close the doors.”
Mr. Kelly said Mr. Strauss-Kahn was traveling alone and was not handcuffed during the apprehension.
“He complied with the detectives’s directions,” Mr. Kelly said.
The Port Authority officers were acting on information from the Police Department, whose detectives had been investigating the assault of a female employee of the Sofitel New York, at 45 West 44th Street, in the heart of the theater district.
As they say, developing…….
These banksters rape whole nations. What’s a maid or two?
If this is happening now, can you imagine how bad it would have been if they hadn’t kicked out Paul Wolfowitz?
J.
Some Tweeps are speculating that this was motivated by the upcoming French election. I’m skeptical but it’s not completely implausible.
JT,
The IMF and the World Bank are not the same thing.
Crap, Tano, you’re right. My apologies.
But I have heard that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was the presumptive nominee of the Socialist Party. Anyone else seeing a bit of cognitive dissonance in the IMF being headed by a socialist?
J.
Not really. Socialism and capitalism are not distinct ideologies anymore, at least not in Europe. Both the “left” and the “right” have conspired to construct a hybrid system – with a considerable scope for private enterprise, but also strong governmental responsibilities in the economy and in the provision of a robust safety net. The differences between parties on the left and right have greatly narrowed.
For instance, neither Mitterand, nor Blair, nor Schroeder went around nationalizing the means of production. Neither did Chirac, Thatcher, or Merkel attempt to dismantle the socialized healthcare systems or other aspects of the safety net.
Ah! Once again, you just proved that you don’t know anything about anything and –of couse– you have an opinion about it… Once gain, you’re –well– pathetic.
Exactly.
Clearly the real victim is Mr. Strauss-Kahn. We should publicize the name of the maid, since she is guilty of the crime of accusing someone of sexual assault. Where’s the justice?
Jay Tea, don’t forget, he’s a $3000 a night, special deal for First Class seat on any Air France flight he desires Socialist. In other words, a man of the people, just so long as those people are rich or have cushy government bureaucrat-elite jobs.
One does wonder what has gotten into the New York Police Department, they moved so fast that his friends in high places couldn’t move to facilitate his escape. French politics is one thing, the charge would dog him as they tried to extradite him but the detectives blew right past the politicians and “diplomats” on their way to the airport. One thing we can be sure of, they didn’t consult with the pantywastes at State or Treasury.