New York (Tadias) – In a stunning turn of events, the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund, is near collapse, as police said they have discovered lies and inconsistencies in his accuser’s story and possible links to criminal activities, media reports say.
According to The New York Times: “Although forensic tests found unambiguous evidence of a sexual encounter between Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a French politician, and the woman, prosecutors now do not believe much of what the accuser has told them about the circumstances or about herself.”
The paper said prosecutors met with Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers on Thursday and the parties discussed whether to dismiss the felony charges against him.
Sources told the New York Times that the prosecutors had discovered issues involving the asylum application of the hotel employee – a 32-year-old Guinean woman – and other illegal activities including drug dealing and money laundering.
“The woman had a phone conversation with an incarcerated man within a day of her encounter with Mr. Strauss-Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing the charges against him…the conversation was recorded,” NYT reports quoting law enforcement officials. “That man, the investigators learned, had been arrested on charges of possessing 400 pounds of marijuana. He is among a number of individuals who made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into the woman’s bank account over the last two years. The deposits were made in Arizona, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania.”
“It is a mess, a mess on both sides,” another official told the paper.
“The investigators also learned that she was paying hundreds of dollars every month in phone charges to five companies. The woman had insisted she had only one phone and said she knew nothing about the deposits except that they were made by a man she described as her fiancé and his friends,” NYT said.
“Indeed, Mr. Strauss-Kahn could be released on his own recognizance, and freed from house arrest, reflecting the likelihood that the serious criminal charges against him will not be sustained,” the paper said. “The district attorney’s office may try to require Mr. Strauss-Kahn to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, but his lawyers are likely to contest such a move.”
Strauss-Kahn resigned from his post at the IMF within days of his arrest back in May.
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