Strauss-Kahn case begins
FORMER IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will today plead not guilty to charges he tried to rape a New York hotel maid, an accusation that has wrecked his chance of becoming France’s next president.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, is facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted on charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sex abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Strauss-Kahn will deny the charges in New York Supreme Court before Judge Michael Obus.
Strauss-Kahn quit as managing director of the International Monetary Fund a few days after his 14 May arrest in the first-class section of an Air France plane, minutes before it was to depart New York for Paris.
He is accused of attacking a 32-year-old African immigrant a few hours earlier when she came to clean his suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel.