IMF Chief Strauss-Kahn Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges

The head of the International Monetary Fund (

) was charged Sunday with the attempted rape of a New York City hotel worker, likely severing any remaining hope of a French presidential bid. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with a criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape in Manhattan Criminal Court. He would plead not guilty, his lawyers said. The accusations are a deep blow, especially to France and the IMF. Strauss-Kahn had previously admitted "poor judgement" in a previous work-related affair with a subordinate at the IMF. According to a Reuters report, "A maid, 32, said he emerged naked from the bathroom and sexually assaulted her inside his $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel hotel near New York's Times Square on Saturday afternoon." Police speculate that the defendant fled his hotel suite and was minutes away from departing on an Air France trip back to Europe before they caught him on the plane still idling on the tarmac. "One thing is certain: Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be the next president of the French republic," the conservative daily Le Figaro said in an editorial. "In the space of 15 days the new idol of the French left has exploded. Such a swift disintegration has rarely been seen," editorialist Paul-Henri du Limbert wrote. A Reuters report notes that "Before his arrest, Strauss-Kahn had been the subject of mounting media commentary on his lifestyle. Critics accused him of a fondness for women, an easy relationship with money and a luxury lifestyle that sat uneasily with his Socialist credentials." "I do not believe for a single second the accusations leveled against my husband," Anne Sinclair, Strauss-Kahn's wife, said in a statement.