Strauss-Kahn sex assault charges ‘to be dropped’
Sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF managing director, will be dropped at his next court appearance, according to reports from New York.
The New York Post says doubts over the credibility of Mr Strauss-Kahn’s alleged victim, a hotel maid, make it “a certainty” that the charges will be dismissed within the next two weeks.
An unnamed investigator in the case told the newspaper: “Her credibility is so bad now, we know we cannot sustain a case with her.”
The French financier is accused of trying to rape the hotel worker, from Guinea, in a luxury hotel in Manhattan. He was arrested on 14 May at New York’s JFK airport and subsequently resigned from his position with the IMF.
Revelations that the accuser had lied about being raped in Guinea in a request for US asylum, and had changed details of her story about what she did after the incident in the hotel room, have undermined her credibility.
A judge released Mr Strauss-Kahn from house arrest and lifted strict bail conditions on Friday, although serious charges, including sexual assault and attempted rape, remain in place.
The previous day the New York Times reported that “major holes” had been found in the case, and that prosecutors believed the 32-year-old accuser had lied repeatedly about her background.
Read more on the background to the Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrest.