Strauss-Kahn pleads not guilty to sexual assault charges

Former IMF chief
Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleaded not guilty
on Monday to charges he sexually assaulted
a New York hotel maid in a case that cost
him his job and a chance at the French
presidency.

Wearing a dark suit, Strauss-Kahn arrived at
the courthouse with his wife, French
television journalist Anne Sinclair, walking
beside him, arm-in-arm. They were flanked
by two private security guards hired to
prevent him from skipping bail.
The couple walked past a throng of media
and a large group of hotel workers there in
solidarity with the woman who said Strauss-
Kahn attacked her. "Shame on you," they
chanted.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, faces up to 25 years in
prison if convicted on charges including
attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex
act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible
touching.
Asked to enter his plea, Strauss-Kahn told
the court clerk, "Not guilty." The next date in
the case at New York Supreme Court before
Judge Michael Obus was set for July 18.
"When the evidence is in, it will be clear
there was no forcible compulsion," defense
lawyer Benjamin Brafman told reporters
after the hearing, confirming he will
contend that any sex with the maid was
consensual.
But the maid's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson,
said the notion that the 32-year-old "hard-
working single mother" had consensual sex
with Strauss-Kahn was "preposterous."
"All of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's power,
money and influence will not stop the truth
of what he did to her in that hotel room
from coming out," he said. "She is going to
come into this courthouse, get into that
witness stand and tell the world what (he)
did to her."
Strauss-Kahn left the court, holding his
wife's hand. the pair looked stoic as they
strode to a black Ford SUV as hotel workers
shouted at him and news photographers
took pictures.
"SHE'S OUR SISTER"
Praised for his role tackling the 2007-09
global financial crisis and attempts to keep
Europe's debt crisis under control, Strauss-
Kahn resigned as managing director of the
International Monetary Fund a few days
after his May 14 arrest in the first-class
section of an Air France plane, minutes
before it was to depart New York for Paris.
He was accused of attacking the maid, an
African immigrant, a few hours earlier when
she came to clean his suite at the luxury
Sofitel hotel in Midtown Manhattan,
apparently believing it had been vacated.
Monday's arraignment marks the start of
what could be lengthy legal proceedings.
A new IMF chief has not yet been appointed.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde
and Mexican central bank chief Agustin
Carstens both want to replace Strauss-Kahn.
Peter Ward, president of Local 6 of the New
York Hotel Workers Union, was among those
outside the court in solidarity with the maid.
"She's our sister and we support her," he
said.
New York hotel worker Beverly Banton said
she was once groped by a guest and that
while the man was evicted from the hotel,
security never called police. "Back then, they
said to us, 'The guests come first,'" she said.
"There's a lot of people this happened to
who didn't say nothing."
Until the New York arrest, Strauss-Kahn had
been expected to quit his IMF post for a
different reason -- a bid to become the
Socialist candidate for president of France.
He had been a strong favorite to beat
conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy at the
polls next year.
Instead, Strauss-Kahn spent four days in
New York's Rikers Island jail before he was
released on $1 million cash bail and $5
million bond and placed under house arrest
with 24-hour armed guards and electronic
monitoring.
The father of four daughters spent a few
days in a Lower Manhattan apartment but is
now living in a luxurious townhouse rented
by his wife in Manhattan's TriBeCa district.
The townhouse has a gym and home
cinema and was last posted for sale for
almost $14 million.
A prosecutor estimated Strauss-Kahn would
pay $200,000 a month for his security
arrangements.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyer has said that although
his client has a net worth of roughly $2
million, his wife, an heiress, has deeper
pockets. So far, Sinclair has shown no
hesitation about using her personal wealth
to help her husband.