Former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released on his own recognizance by Justice Michael Obus, the administrative judge for criminal matters in New York County. Obus called a hearing today after investigators uncovered serious credibility issues with the 32-year-old Sofitel worker who accused him of sexual assault. Strauss-Kahn, who has always maintained that there was a consensual sexual encounter between the two, was sentenced to house arrest in New York City pending his trial. But prosecutors now no longer believe much of what the accuser has told them, as she has “repeatedly lied” about the circumstances of the May event and about her own personal details. (She was also caught on tape discussing the potential benefits of pursuing charges against Strauss-Kahn with an alleged marijuana dealer.) Prosecutors did not ask for a dismissal, as the woman still maintains she was attacked, but Kahn was released with no bail conditions, and he will not get his passport back.
In a letter released today, the district attorney’s office revealed to the defendants what they learned in their investigations, including that she had supplied false information on an asylum application, including that she had been raped and beaten in her home country. The DA’s office also learned that she had not fled to safety after her sexual encounter with Strauss-Kahn, but instead went to clean a nearby room and then the room where he was staying. In a lengthy appearance outside the courthouse, her lawyer Kenneth Thompson defended his client, conceding that she had credibility issues but maintaining that there was a sexual assault. “The only defense that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has was that this sexual encounter was consensual,” the lawyer said, citing bruises on his client from the incident. “That is a lie.”
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