Dominique Strauss-Kahn case crumbling?

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

NEW YORK - Prosecutors have serious questions about the credibility of a hotel housekeeper who has accused former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, and they are taking the extraordinary step of seeking a substantial reduction in his pricey bail, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public in court, told The Associated Press that prosecutors have raised issues about the accuser's credibility in the case against Strauss-Kahn, but would not elaborate.

A law enforcement official who is familiar with the case, but who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, told the AP that prosecutors came to believe during their investigation that the woman had lied about her activities in the hours surrounding the alleged attack and about her own background.

The new developments could represent a stunning reversal of fortune for the man whose financial and political career all but disintegrated when he was arrested just six weeks ago, reports CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano.

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The New York Police Department, which investigated the case, declined to comment. The woman's lawyer did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Strauss-Kahn, who faces a court hearing Friday, has been under armed guard in a Manhattan townhouse after posting a total of $6 million in cash bail and bond. He denies the allegations.

Sources close to the defense tell CBS News they expect Strauss-Kahn's bail restrictions will be either substantially reduced or lifted on Friday, indicating he may even be released on his own recognizance. The sources made it clear they do not expect the charges against Strauss-Kahn to be dropped Friday, as it is just a bail hearing.

"There will be serious issues raised by the district attorney's office and us concerning the credibility of the complaining witness," Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Strauss-Kahn, told the Wall Street Journal.

20 Photos

IMF Director accused of sex assault in NYC

The maid told police that Strauss-Kahn chased her down a hallway in his $3,000-a-night suite in New York's Sofitel hotel, tried to pull down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex before she broke free.

The New York Times first reported on its website that investigators uncovered major inconsistencies in the woman's account of her background, citing two law enforcement officials. The Times also reported that senior prosecutors and Strauss-Kahn's lawyers are discussing whether to dismiss the felony charges against him, including attempted rape.

Strauss-Kahn lawyer William W. Taylor would say only that the hearing was to review the bail plan. The Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment.

Prosecutors had argued against his release in May, citing the violent nature of the alleged offenses and saying his wealth and international connections would make it easy for him to flee.

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"The proof against him is substantial. It is continuing to grow every day as the investigation continues," Assistant District Attorney John "Artie" McConnell told the judge. "We have a man who, by his own conduct in this case, has shown a propensity for impulsive criminal conduct."

But according to the law enforcement official who spoke to the AP, prosecutors now believe Strauss-Kahn's accuser lied about various details on her application for asylum in the U.S., including saying she had been raped in her native Guinea — a claim she repeated and then recanted during the investigation, the official said.

"She actually recounted the entire story to prosecutors and later said it was false," the official said.

Prosecutors also believe some of her account of her activities in the hours surrounding the alleged attack wasn't true, though they haven't necessarily reached a new conclusion about the incident itself, the official said. They have not decided whether to downgrade the charges, the official said.

Quijano reports that investigators also reportedly have evidence that could link the unidentified Guinean woman to drug dealing and money laundering.

In one recorded phone call - placed the day after the encounter - she spoke to a man in prison about "the possible benefits of pursuing the charging against" Strauss-Kahn, according to the Times' report.

In early hearings, prosecutors underscored that they thought the evidence against Strauss-Kahn was formidable. And it appeared so at first, the official said.

"In the beginning, it was a strong case. There was a victim and several witnesses and forensic evidence that supported the victim's claim," the official said.

The woman was in Strauss-Kahn's room only briefly before the alleged attack, his semen was found on her uniform, and she quickly reported the alleged assault and told a consistent story about it to investigators and prosecutors, the official said. Prosecutors have also said in court that Strauss-Kahn seemed on surveillance tapes to be in a hurry as he left the hotel, though his lawyers have said he was merely rushing to lunch.

If the case against Strauss-Kahn collapses, it could once again shake up the race for the French presidency. Strauss-Kahn, a prominent Socialist, had been seen as a leading potential contender and challenger to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy for next year's elections — until the New York hotel incident embarrassed Strauss-Kahn's party and left him in the political wilderness.

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[Dutra1]

If you are a black, immigrant, lying, prostitute, then by default you cannot be raped. Is that what this article means to convey? Looks like the mega-buck fix is in.

[ibsteve2u]

Is hard for me to call this either way.

I cannot dismiss the rape charges out of hand, as I know powerful people can get away with a lot.

But I cannot accept the rape charges as fact as I also know that powerful people exist who don't have any moral or ethical restraints preventing them from framing someone who threatens their rate of wealth and/or power accumulation.

And I also know that not-so-powerful people exist who look at the aforementioned facts - their simple truth - and begin to think "Hey...they do dirty deeds...why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I squeeze them for a little of what they squeeze out of so many of us?".

So as I said, I cannot draw a conclusion one way or the other.

[teak54]

Soon we will hear about the shortest tenure of a Manhattan District Attorney in history.

[peter_out]

It's disgusting for a DA to rattle a rape victom. DAs must defend rape victoms. Powerful men must be held accountable when they rape. DAs married to defense attorneys and leak secrets are dirty.

[peter_out]

This case should go to a jury, dirty prosecutors should be disbarred and sent to jail.

[credibility2]

Not only is the accuser's story losing credibility with her lying, she also has a shady background in drugs, money laundering and previous false rape accusation. She also contacted someone in prison within a day of her making the accusation with this guy; the inmate she contacted discussed with her the fact that this guy had money. This could have been a set-up for blackmail, or to get him out as head of the IMF and to quash any of his desire for running for France's President. Either way, the story stinks and his career has been ruined because of a liar. I hope he sues her and totally ruins her life.

[cbsblogger]

How dare this maid accuse an elitist IMF banker of rape? Doesn't she know her place in society?

I thought this was a pattern of behavior as the banker had a history of aggressive sexual behavior.

[FreshxWater]

If she turns up dead, then my hypothesis this was a CIA operation will become fact. (She freaks out and reveals "a man paid her to seduce and then file rape charges") But if she is paid enough she could just keep her mouth shut and take the heat.

[berlinfoto-2009]

Until one has experience, or knows of someone who has experience, dealing with 'SECRET POLICE' or some security service such as the CIA, it always will sound so far out in left field, that one does not believe that it could be true. May I suggest that doubters of the unlawfulness of the CIA, read the book, "THE CIA's CONTROL OF CANDY JONES" written by Donald Bain. Donald Bain's own words is that his book "reflects the truth about the CIA". The United States has a whole stable of women with DID, in every major city in the U.S. who will sleep with a man then claim rape. This is reality. DID is usually an artificially created mental illness. It can be created with hypnosis, particularly if the subject individual, was a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and developed multiple personalities as a result of the sexual abuse.
I have known several women with DID, and I know how they can be controlled by a handler, to incriminate a innocent man. This is just a small part of the sickness of the Police State we know as the United States.
Do not sleep with a spacey chick, do not sleep with a woman with more than one personalty.

[TashyaWilson]

Please read more thoroughly. Nowhere did it say she lied about what happened. They said her story and actions immediately surrounding the alleged incident remain consistent. It says she may have lied about her asylum. This is what happens when the poor attempt to come up against the powerful with superior legal representation. They have gone and dug up issues irrelevant to the case itself to discredit her. Perhaps she has lied about her asylum status. It does not make him any less guilty.

[Dr_Pangloss]

As soon as this story broke, we heard a lot of would-be wisdom about the male chauvinist culture of French men and especially of French big shots. Now it turns out to be hooey. Sort of the Duke University lacrosse team gang rape that never happened.

[jtdev1]

Yeah, it was gang sex.. Not rape...

moron.

[berlinfoto-2009]

"Prosecutors have serious questions about the credibility of a hotel housekeeper who has accused former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault," As former leader of the IMF, Dominique was a target or the Establishment or of the security services of the United States, for Dominique has prevented the collapse of the European economy and of the Euro.
The Establishment would like for all of western civilization to be a supper state, and for it to dominate the world. By collapsing the U.S economy and the European economy it would be easy to join the two together, Europe and America.
Do not for one moment think that the economic crisis was not planed. 'The Establishments secret war against labor, liberals, and minorities, has been going on for a very long time.'(see page 295, of the book "THE STRENGTH OF THE WOLF", for a little information on this secret war.
Ask yourself what happened to liberalism in America? or what happen to labor unions? why have not the minorities made any more progress? than they have?
The criminal case against Dominique is part of this secret war.

[zunitribe]

You see the power women have been granted in our new age of equality. On just simply her accusation alone, you, as a man, are guilty. The helps strip some of that power away from women.

[jtdev1]

Yeah, guess the PHYSICAL EVIDENCE doesn't mean squat...

She must have begged him to F her as he is sooooooo hot...


Yeah right, He raped her and now his high priced lawyers are getting him out of trouble.

The rich NEVER go to jail.