DA: Strauss-Kahn accuser cleaned after encounter

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, center, is lead from 71 Broadway in Manhattan's financial district where the former International Monetary Fund leader was staying following his release on bail, May 25, 2011, in New York. / AP Photo/Louis Lanzano

The hotel maid who accused former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault admitted that she lied to a grand jury about the events surrounding the alleged attack, according to a letter sent from prosecutors to Strauss-Kahn's defense team.

The 32-year-old woman from Guinea accused Strauss-Kahn of chasing her through his luxury suite in May, trying to pull down her pantyhose and forcing her to perform oral sex.

Strauss-Kahn's semen was found on the woman's dress and she reported the alleged assault, but not as quickly as first thought. In a letter dated June 30, prosecutors that she admitted that she cleaned another room following the encounter with the French politician and then returned to Strauss-Kahn's room and cleaned that as well, contradicting what she told the grand jury.

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It was just the latest revelation that has damaged her credibility and undermined the prosecution of Strauss-Kahn. In light of the new questions surrounding the case, a New York judge granted Strauss-Kahn's release from house arrest, though the charges have not been dismissed.

From the beginning, Strauss-Kahn's attorneys have claimed to have the hotel encounter wasn't forcible, and that they have unreleased information that could "gravely undermine the credibility" of the housekeeper. The defense was using private investigators to aggressively check out the victim's background and her story, but the New York Times reported that it was investigators for the prosecution who uncovered discrepancies.

Among the other revelations revealed in the prosecutor's letter to the defense team:

- The woman's asylum application described how she and her husband were persecuted and beaten by regime forces in Guinea. She claimed her husband was imprisoned, tortured and subsequently died at the hands of police. The woman later admitted to prosecutors that her account was false and that she had been coached by another man to create the fictional account for the purposes of the application.

- The woman twice relayed to investigators emotional accounts of how she was gang-raped in Guinea. She later said those accounts were false and were similarly used for the asylum application process. However, she did still claim that she was a rape victim, though the details did not match her original story.

- The woman admitted to using a friend's child to fraudulently claim an additional dependent and increase her tax refund. She also misrepresented her income to maintain her housing.

20 Photos

IMF Director accused of sex assault in NYC

Additionally, the New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported that:

- In the day following her accusations against Strauss-Kahn, the woman had a phone conversation with a man imprisoned and charged with possession of 400 pounds of marijuana. In the conversation, which was recorded, she spoke about possible benefits of pursuing the case, two officials told the paper.

- Investigators discovered the imprisoned man was one of several people who deposited around $100,000 in cash in the woman's bank account over the last two years. The deposits were made from around the country - in Arizona, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania. The woman claimed to know nothing about the deposits, saying they were made by her fianc? and his friends.

- The woman was also paying phone bills to five different companies, though she told investigators that she owned just one phone.

The accuser's attorney, Ken Thompson, fired back outside court and said she went to the district attorney with information that her application was flawed because she was concerned she otherwise would be sent back to Guinea.

"It is clear that this woman made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean she's not a rape victim," he said.

He said she came to the U.S. because she was a victim of genital mutilation and worried that her daughter, now 15, would be victimized as well. He also said she had been raped by soldiers there, but not as it was written in her asylum application.

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He also laid out details she described of an attack by Strauss-Kahn in the Sofitel suite and said her account has remained consistent.

"From day one has described a violent sexual assault that Dominique Strauss-Kahn committed against her," attorney Ken Thompson said.

Thompson took a throng of reporters outside court through the details of the incident from his client's perspective, saying Strauss-Kahn bruised her genitals, tore a ligament in her shoulder and ripped her stockings.

"She has described that sexual assault many times, to prosecutors and to me, and she has never once changed a single thing about that encounter," he said.

He also addressed media reports that his client was involved with a drug dealer, calling them lies.

[jcnbma]

Bizarre title....I thought it meant that she cleaned....herself - suggesting that it might have been consensual.

[roblearns]

The remaining people who still think DSK is guilty, remind me of the remaining birthers who think Obama was born outside the U.S.

The reality is, once a lie gets out there, there are unreasonable people who cling to that lie, forever.

But DSK is clearly innocent. Oh, he likes having sex with women, but thats far different from being a rapist.

Just unfortunately for him, with all his encounters with women, he eventually came across a sociopathic liar, who seized the opportunity in an attempt to gain some riches.

[lairdkeir]

Talk about reversal of fortune... For me the case says more about the role of the press and politicians than has been given attention. I've just seen the New York Post this morning again refer to Strauss-Kahn as a "dirty frog." I teach just outside Dachau where those referred to as "Dirty Jews" or other such epithets were sent after being castigated and the masses whipped into a frenzy. The editor of the main such rag, Der Stuermer, was hanged at Nuremberg for this very reason. Just like Streicher, this reprehensible writer uses emotive language whilst ignoring facts and judgement to whip up the crowds. How on earth can the US, a country that seems to be falling further and further into the abyss of ignorance, extremism and reaction, allow such racist language in a daily newspaper? And then what did New York's mayor say? If he didn't want to be escorted through a throng of reporters in handcuffs- tired, dishevelled, unshaven and hungry- he shouldn't have done the crime? Looks like maybe he didn't do the crime. Looks like Bloomberg is not a fan of due process or any of the other little hallmarks laid down in our common law since 1215. Will he be apologising? I would be most surprised as my impression of American politicians is that they will say anything, go on TV to do anything, and disseminate obscene photos of themselves to all and sundry electronically and never apologise for their "mistakes" until enough people have been damaged by their irresponsibility.

[farzin10]

who was he,.. what he did.., what is his conditions..,
all are misleading discussions. the point is: how sick and injust is the American prosecution is.
corrupt system which with help of BS feminists can destroy a man's life with out any proves or reasons. The woman and all her bihind supporters should be criminalized of all these BS. From the first to the last, with starting deportation hearing on the woman.

[billpl-2009]

it's clear to say

...this guy doen't follow nba basketball

[loveyourselfalice]

She has a story to tell. visit her at

http://loveyourselfalice.blogspot.com/

[kuriouscanuk]

10 to 15 FRENCH investigators were hired by DSK defense team. These people are not of the Peter Sellers variety as their reputation is of deadly efficiency. Apparently what the prosecutors have disclosed is barely the tip of the iceberg that the defense will bring in full view. His team is NOT collaborating with the police. This was an organized con job with assistance from many parties and money from France(!). DSK is guilty of having been to willing to trust the maid. I bet he is still in shock, but fear not, he will soon be back with his lovely billionnairess wife, minus the impossible job he had at the IMF and the even worse job of France's presidency, one he would have won hands down. BTW, they have uncovered the links to the French money source by paying the bad guys (her accompices) even more than the right-wing agents that commanded the operation. What a world!

[Vicarman2]

Sadly, this may prove once again that the American prosecutorial official has no guts and is easily traunced by the power elite and their money. The woman is reported to have had his ***** on her clothing...At the very least that does indicate that something sexual happened between the two of them. Strauss-Kahn is married man for heaven sake! What the hell is he even doing having any kind of sex away from "his lovely billionnairess wife"?

[ginabea]

Journalism takes a break from basic grammar and spelling.

"Lead" PENCIL

"Led" AWAY

The approach here is to veer in the other direction, that of the innocence of Strauss-Kahn. While he has been released from house arrest he is not free from prosecution for rape. The hotel employee's description of the rape remains consistent and so do her injuries.

[antoniof123]

"It is clear that this woman made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean she's not a rape victim," he said.

I though the LaCross DA had his licence revoked. Isn't that something like what he said even after all the evidence was brought forth.

[roblearns]

Straus-Kahnn is completely innocent, and it is time to let him go, with our apologies as a nation, and with a warning to other false accusers that their will be consequences to their actions.

Take this woman, deny her asylum application, withdraw her work privileges and send her back to Guinea.

But before you do that, lying to the police is a crime, prosecute this criminal for her crimes.

[Vicarman2]

I might have been prepared to give Mr. Strauss-Kahn some latitude on this matter and even speculate that there might have been some consensual activity between he and the hotel worker. However, other media report and analysis since this alleged rape took place in May has turned up information that he purportedly sexually assaulted other females in Europe as well in the past. I might even have been inclined to say he was set up by strong political opponents ...just to be kind to him. But let's not turn our faces away from his alleged crime in this country and instead begin to blame the woman for this man's anti-social, animal-like behavior towards another human being. It is highly probable that the defense investigators found a way to get to the woman and has exposed some of her own background with the intent of drawing fire away from Strauss-Kahn. Money is a powerful weapon but the courage of good minds and hearts will be victorious.