Tag: Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was acquitted of aggravated procurement charges today in France.

Although using prostitutes is not illegal in France, assisting in supplying them is illegal and regarded as procuring. Mr Strauss-Kahn had been accused of playing a pivotal role in facilitating the orgies.

The verdict brings to a close four years of legal proceedings against Mr Strauss-Kahn, including charges of attempted rape which were later dropped in 2012.

It's the correct decision legally. [more..]

The prosecutor in the trial of Dominique Strauss-Kahn has asked that the charges of aggravated procurement be dismissed for lack of evidence. The women involved have dismissed their claims for damages against him.

Lille Prosecutor Frederic Fevre told the judges:

"Did Dominique Strauss-Kahn pay prostitutes? The answer is no. Did he p*mp prostitutes for others? The answer is no,"

The prosecutor originally recommended against the charges, but the investigating magistrate judges overruled him, saying that Strauss-Kahn was a key planner of the parties and knew that the women who attended them were prostitutes. But the evidence at trial failed to show DSK knew they were prostitutes and he testified and denied knowing they were paid. [More...]

Trial has begun in France for Dominique Strauss-Kahn and more than a dozen others on organized pandering charges (technically called "proxénétisme aggravé," which translates as aggravated procuring for the purposes of prostitution.) The charges result from a long-term financial investigation dubbed the Carlton Affair, into whether DSK knew that prostitutes who attended various business functions were part of an organized solicitation effort by businessmen and hotels using unlawful corporate funds. Background here and here.

Prostitution is legal in France. Profiting from prostitution (supplying them to others) is not. The issue is whether DSK was "complicit" in the acts of the businessmen who supplied the prostitutes or knew the businessmen were using corporate funds to pay the prostitutes. DSK has said he attended the parties but did not know the women were prostitutes. Other defendants include a senior police chief and businessmen. DSK is represented by the Henri Le Clerc, now 84. His view: [More...]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Sofitel Hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo have settled their civil suits against each other for an undisclosed amount. She sued him for the hotel room encounter, he counter-sued her for defamation.

Also settled: Diallo's defamation suit against the New York Post which had reported she was a prostitute.[More...]

A judge in New York has refused to dismiss the civil lawsuit filed against Dominique Strauss-Kahn by Nafissatou Diallo, the housekeeper at the Sofitel who alleges he sexually assaulted her. Strauss-Kahn raised the defense of diplomatic immunity.

In his decision, Justice McKeon quoted from a monetary fund document advising its officials that they enjoy immunity from the judicial process only in respect to their official duties.

The judge added that even that limited immunity expired with Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s resignation. The decision also noted that Mr. Strauss-Kahn chose not to raise immunity during his criminal proceedings because he wanted to clear his name.

Prediction: This case will now settle for an undisclosed sum of money. [More...]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was placed under formal investigation today in France on charges of participating in an organized vice ring. According to Reuters,

Judges had the option of putting him under investigation for having potentially benefited from misappropriated company funds if he knowingly attended prostitute sessions paid for by his executive friends using expense accounts.

Instead, the investigation will focus on the pandering angle, and whether Strauss-Kahn was aware that the women at the parties were prostitutes supplied by pimps.

He may or may not have to stand trial:

Under French law, "juges d'instruction," which are a cross between investigating prosecutors and criminal magistrates, notify the accused they are under investigation and can hold the person if they believe it warranted. It is they who later decide whether to send the case to court.

Put another way: "Under French law, preliminary charges mean authorities have reason to believe a crime was committed but allow more time for investigation."

He has been released on bond. [More..]

Update: Sofitel responds, via The Daily Beast. It says the video celebration lasted only 8 seconds and might have been about sports. It says the guest in 2820 checked out at 11:36 am and Diallo cleaned the room shortly thereafter.

Investigative journalist Edward Epstein provides new details in the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the Sofitel hotel maid in the New York Review of Books. Epstein says he had access to the hotel's electronic key swipe records and time-stamped hotel security camera videotapes. He also reviewed cell phone records for a phone used on May 14 by Accor security employee John Sheehan. Accor owns the Sofitel.

The Guardian details Epstein's findings if you don't want to take the time to read his entire report.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be prosecuted in France for an alleged attempted rape on journalist Tristane Bannon.

The Paris prosecutor's office on Thursday dropped an investigation into a writer's claim that Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her, citing lack of sufficient proof, though it said the former IMF chief admitted to a lesser charge of sexual assault.

The prosecutor said there was evidence of sexual aggression but that charge was beyond the statute of limitations.

The statute of limitations on sexual aggression is three years; on the greater charge of attempted rape, it's 10 years. While DSK admitted the aggression, he denied that he attempted to rape Bannon.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn didn't have dipolmatic immunity in the criminal case with the New York hotel maid, but are civil cases different? Strauss-Kahn filed a motion to dismiss Nafassitou Diallo's lawsuit today saying the court lacked jurisdiction over him. The NY Daily News reports:

in the court papers, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers argued that a different standard, the UN Specialized Agencies Convention, grants the top official of international organizations like the IMF "absolute diplomatic immunity."

That the United States never signed on the Specialized Agencies Convention is of no matter, the lawyers argued, because so many other countries have signed it. It has now "achieved the status of what is known as customary international law," they said.

[More...]

The Manhattan District Attorney's office has filed a 25 page motion asking the court to dismiss all charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. You can read it here.

“The nature and number of the complainant’s falsehoods leave us unable to credit her version of events beyond a reasonable doubt, whatever the truth may be about the encounter between the complainant and the defendant,” the papers state. “If we do not believe her beyond a reasonable doubt, we cannot ask a jury to do so.”

DSK's lawyers issued this statement: [More...]

As Dominique Strauss-Kahn's supporters plan his return to France and French politics, and Reuters' reports that officials in France believe Tristane Bannon's charges are unlikely to result in a criminal case, Nafassitou Diallo's lawyers are expected to make a last-ditch effort today or tomorrow for a special prosecutor to take over the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case. It has no chance of succeeding.

Mr. Thompson’s motion will almost certainly fail, legal experts said, because under the law his client has no authority to ask for Mr. Vance’s office to be replaced by a special prosecutor. “It’s what we call an A.O.D.: an act of desperation,” said Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University Law School. “She may benefit from a successful prosecution, but she has no legal interest in the prosecution.”

[More...]

The New York Times reports the lawyer for the accuser in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case got a letter inviting his client to a meeting at the DA's office Monday, one day before the DA will announce in court whether he is dropping charges against DSK.

Kenneth Thompson, the lawyer, predicts charges will be dropped. Why? From the terse tone of the letter, and because:

“If they were not going to dismiss the charges,” Mr. Thompson added on Saturday, “there would be no need to meet with her. They would just go to court the next day to say, ‘We’re going to proceed with the case.’ ”

Then there's this statement in the letter: [More...]