I.M.F. Head Is Arrested and Accused of Sexual Attack

I.M.F. Head Is Arrested and Accused of Sexual Attack
By AL BAKER
Published: May 14, 2011



The leader of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested on Saturday, minutes before he was to fly to Paris from John F. Kennedy International Airport, the authorities said.
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Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, in April. He was arrested Saturday at Kennedy Airport.

He was accused of a sex attack on a maid earlier in the day at a Times Square hotel, the authorities said.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a candidate for president of France, was taken off an Air France flight by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and turned over to Manhattan detectives, according to a Port Authority spokesman. He was expected to be taken to the offices of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit at P.S.A. 5 in Manhattan, another official said.

It was about 4:45 p.m. when plainclothes detectives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey suddenly boarded the plane, Air France Flight 23, as it idled on the tarmac at the airport in Queens, N.Y., and took Mr. Strauss-Khan into custody, said John Kelly, a spokesman for the agency.

“It was 10 minutes before its scheduled departure,” said Mr. Kelly, who could not immediately say whether Mr. Strauss-Kahn was traveling alone or how soon before the flight he had purchased a ticket.

The Port Authority officers were acting on information from the New York Police Department, whose detectives had been investigating a brutal attack of a woman employee at the hotel Sofitel New York, at 45 West 44th Street, in the heart of the city’s theater district.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn had been considered a leading contender to run on the Socialist Party’s ticket against President Nicolas Sarkozy. A former economics professor, Mr. Strauss-Kahn rose to political prominence first as a deputy in parliament in the 1980’s and then as a finance minister under socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, a post he held until 1999. Mr. Strauss-Kahn eventually sought the socialist party’s presidential nomination himself in 2007 — calling for an “anti-Sarkozy front” — but lost to Segolene Royal. Months later he was tapped to run the I.M.F. and received Sarkozy’s support, which many critics called a strategy by Sarkozy to keep Mr. Strauss-Kahn away from the forefront of the socialist party.

But Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who is married to a prominent television news reporter, has been dogged by scandal. In 2008 he was embroiled in a controversy after accusations arose that he had had a sexual relationship with one of his subordinates, Piroska Nagy, a senior official in the I.M.F.’s Africa Department. The I.M.F. hired a law firm to launch an investigation, and Ms. Nagy left the fund and went to work for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. With the I.M.F. needed to quell the international economic meltdown, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was kept on the job. He later apologized for an “error in judgment.”

Formed at the end of World War II, the I.M.F provides low-cost loans to countries in financial crisis. After 2008, it became more relevant after brokering rescue packages for countries like Greece, Pakistan, Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine.

Anahad O’Connor contributed reporting.

I.M.F. Names Replacement as Chief Awaits Arraignment

By AL BAKER and STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: May 15, 2011

Hours after its chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in connection with the alleged sexual attack of a maid at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, the International Monetary Fund on Sunday named John Lipsky as acting managing director.



Robert Galbraith/Reuters
John Lipsky will step in to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as director of the I.M.F.

Mr. Lipsky, the I.M.F.’s first deputy managing director, is a former U.S. Treasury executive and onetime banker at JP Morgan. William Murray, an I.M.F. spokesman, said that Mr. Lipsky, who has been overseeing the logistics of the bailout of the Greek economy, would meet with members of the I.M.F. board in Washington later in the day, according to Reuters.

“In line with standard I.M.F. procedures, John Lipsky, first deputy managing director, is acting managing director while the M.D. is not in D.C.,” Mr. Murray said in a statement. “Mr. Lipsky will chair the informal Board session today.”

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, was awaiting arraignment on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan. The New York Police Department formally arrested him at 2:15 that morning “on charges of criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and an unlawful imprisonment in connection with a sexual assault on a 32-year-old chambermaid in the luxury suite of a Midtown Manhattan hotel yesterday” about 1 p.m., Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, said.

Reached by telephone, Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer, said he would be representing Mr. Strauss-Kahn with William Taylor, a lawyer in Washington.

“We have not yet been able to meet with our client and we may have more to say tomorrow,” said Mr. Brafman, who said he had been contacted late Saturday night. He said Mr. Strauss-Kahn was being housed at the police department’s Special Victims Unit.

Early Sunday morning, Mr. Brafman said that his client “will plead not guilty.”

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was widely expected to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency, was apprehended by detectives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the first-class section of the jetliner, and immediately turned over to detectives from the Midtown South Precinct, officials said.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, had been expected to declare his candidacy soon, after three and a half years as the leader of the fund, which is based in Washington. He was considered by many to have done a good job in a period of intense global economic strain, when the institution itself had become vital to the smooth running of the world and the European economy.

His apprehension came at about 4:40 p.m. at Kennedy Airport, when two detectives of the Port Authority suddenly boarded Air France Flight 23, as the plane idled at the departure gate, said John P. L. Kelly, a spokesman for the agency.

“It was 10 minutes before its scheduled departure,” Mr. Kelly said. “They were just about to close the doors.”

Mr. Kelly said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was traveling alone and that he was not handcuffed during the apprehension.

“He complied with the detectives’ directions,” Mr. Kelly said.

The Port Authority officers were acting on information from the Police Department, whose detectives had been investigating the assault of a female employee of Sofitel New York, at 45 West 44th Street, near Times Square. Working quickly, the city detectives learned he had boarded a flight at Kennedy Airport to leave the country.

Though Mr. Strauss-Kahn received generally high marks for his stewardship of the fund, his reputation was tarnished in 2008 by an affair with a Hungarian economist who was a subordinate there. The fund decided to stand by him despite concluding that he had shown poor judgment in the affair. Mr. Strauss-Kahn issued an apology to I.M.F. employees and to his wife, Anne Sinclair, an American-born French journalist.

In his statement then, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said, “I am grateful that the board has confirmed that there was no abuse of authority on my part, but I accept that this incident represents a serious error of judgment.” The economist, Piroska Nagy, left the fund as part of a buyout of nearly 600 employees instituted by Mr. Strauss-Kahn to cut costs.

In the New York case, Mr. Browne said that it was about 1 p.m. on Saturday when the maid, a 32-year-old woman, entered Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s suite — Room 2806 — believing it was unoccupied. Mr. Browne said that the suite, which cost $3,000 a night, had a foyer, a conference room, a living room and a bedroom, and that Mr. Strauss-Khan had checked in on Friday.

As she was in the foyer, “he came out of the bathroom, fully naked, and attempted to sexually assault her,” Mr. Browne said, adding, “He grabs her, according to her account, and pulls her into the bedroom and onto the bed.” He locked the door to the suite, Mr. Browne said.

“She fights him off, and he then drags her down the hallway to the bathroom, where he sexually assaults her a second time,” Mr. Browne added.

At some point during the assault, the woman broke free, Mr. Browne said, and “she fled, reported it to other hotel personnel, who called 911.” He added, “When the police arrived, he was not there.” Mr. Browne said Mr. Strauss-Kahn appeared to have left in a hurry. In the room, investigators found his cellphone, which he had left behind, and one law enforcement official said that the investigation uncovered forensic evidence that would contain DNA.

Mr. Browne added, “We learned that he was on an Air France plane,” and the plane was held at the gate, where Mr. Strauss-Kahn was taken into custody. Later Saturday night, Mr. Browne said Mr. Strauss-Kahn was in a police holding cell.

Mr. Browne said the city’s Emergency Medical Service took the maid to Roosevelt Hospital for what Mr. Browne described as treatment for “minor injuries.”

No matter the outcome of Saturday’s episode, it will most likely throw the French political world into turmoil and the Socialist Party into an embarrassed confusion.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a leading member of the party, has been considered the front-runner for the next presidential election in France in May 2012. Opinion polls have shown him to be the Socialists’ most popular candidate and running well ahead of the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, who leads the center-right party.

France has been waiting for Mr. Strauss-Kahn to decide whether to run for his party’s nomination in a series of primaries, which would mean giving up his post at the fund.

The view in France was that if Mr. Strauss-Kahn wanted to run, he would have to make his intentions clear early this summer, and most politicians and analysts have been predicting that he would not be able to resist the chance to run the country.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn contested for the nomination five years ago, losing to Ségolène Royal, who ultimately lost a second-round runoff to Mr. Sarkozy. Mr. Sarkozy then arranged for Mr. Strauss-Kahn to get the I.M.F. job, partly to remove a popular rival from France’s political landscape.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was the French minister of economy under the Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin, from 1997 to 1999, and he has also been a professor of economics at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

In 1995, he was elected mayor of Sarcelles, a poor suburb of Paris, and married Ms. Sinclair.

The couple are known to enjoy the finer things in life, and Mr. Strauss-Kahn has sometimes been attacked for being a “caviar leftist.”

Recently Mr. Strauss-Kahn and his wife were photographed entering an expensive Porsche in Paris belonging to one of their friends. The image of a Socialist with Porsche tastes was quickly picked up by the news media, especially the newspapers that generally support Mr. Sarkozy.

William K. Rashbaum and Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/nyregion/imf-names-replacement-as-chief-awaits-arraignment.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

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NOW those of you that I have seen on other forums asking "What does this have to do with Iraq?" or the RV. Might you see the difference in the IMF hierarchy now?

A socialist Frenchman was removed and "a former U.S. Treasury executive and onetime banker at JP Morgan" replaced him. Perhaps Dominique Strauss-Kahn was not performing up to expectations and refused to step aside, and the world did not want to wait to see if, in fact, he was a serious "French presidential candidate" and would run and win.....Who's interest do you think he had in mind in his actions as the head of the IMF? France perhaps? Who's interest do you think John Lipsky, the new acting Chief of the IMF will have in mind?

Things change.........



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11 Re: I.M.F. Head Is Arrested and Accused of Sexual Attack Today at 7:44 pm
panhead

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thankful that a Chinese guy didn't get the position.....and agree this has a lot of bearing on Iraqs RV.....+1

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Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a leading member of the party, has been considered the
front-runner for the next presidential election in France in May 2012.
Opinion polls have shown him to be the Socialists’ most popular
candidate and running well ahead of the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, who
leads the center-right party.

Talk about "Political" dirty playing!!! This whole thing sinks of a set up to get Strauss-Kahn removed!!!

wether it's a setup or not.....at least our taxpayer dollars won't go to fund the EU bailouts, let Germany and France pick up the tab for Greece and Spain instead!
....can't wait to see the implications of China backing up the Euro as they have in the last six months.....suckers!

Out of Austria!!! Love these guys!!

NYT: Arrest of IMF's Most Magnificent Man Seen as Ending the World
Monday, May 16, 2011 – by Staff Report


Talks in Greek Crisis at Key Juncture ... The arrest of the head of the International Monetary Fund in New York on Saturday comes at an especially sensitive time for its most high-profile project: saving Greece from default ... After last year's rescue of Greece, I.M.F. and European officials have now, for the most part, accepted that Greece will require another 60 billion euros in aid in order to see it through 2011 and 2012. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the I.M.F. managing director, who was taken off an airplane destined for Paris and charged with attempted rape, had been reportedly due to meet on Sunday with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and to attend meetings in Brussels on Monday to discuss Portugal's economic crisis. – New York Times


Dominant Social Theme: The fall of this titan is almost too much to bear. It couldn't come at a worse time. Who can replace him?


Free-Market Analysis: The mainstream media was in visible mourning yesterday with dominant social themes and sub-dominant social themes pummeling the innocent Western world. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose alleged predilection for forcible seduction was apparently an open secret, was removed from a plane over the weekend and charged with sexual assault in America. With this simple act, American law enforcement unleashed a thousand elite memes, as Helen of Troy once was responsible for a thousand ships.


Unlike, say, US President Barack Obama, we do not celebrate another man's downfall, much less his death, but as a paper covering the memes of the elite, we must admit the arrest of the IMF honcho provides a bonanza of analytical occurrences.


In no particular order they include the rigor and uncorrupt ability of American law enforcement, the equal treatment under the law in America for everyone (which can be seen by the 99 percent Federal conviction rate) and perhaps most importantly The End of the World as We Know It Following Arrest of This Irreplaceable Choo-Choo of Prosperity.


This last meme is the one that was being flogged the most by the mainstream media. We can see it clearly in the New York Times article excerpted above. Without Strauss-Kahn's brilliance, work ethic (and insistence on fresh flowers every day at IMF's Washington headquarters), a number of critical negotiations were said to be jeopardized.


OK, sarcasm off. This situation is actually nothing to joke about. It is actually a personal tragedy for Strauss-Kahn (though he is said to be set to plead not guilty), for the poor individual he allegedly assaulted, and a setback for both the IMF and Europe. Here's some more from the Times, which captures the reality of the situation:


The melancholy news of Strauss-Kahn's incarceration, due no doubt to a misunderstanding, caused absolute havoc in Europe. Portugal and Spain suffered back-to-back earthquakes and a number of commercial banks declared they would go out of business on Monday. The euro bond market sank to its lowest level since its inception and several junior IMF officials committed suicide.


A number of attractive junior, female journalists on the staffs of the BBC, Reuters and Al Jazeera were said to have breathed sighs of relief but throughout Southern Europe, currencies, crashed and whole business districts were said to be burning out of control. Riots struck major cities throughout Europe and following a run of foodstuffs and resources around the world it was said that the entire developing world was teetering on the edge of incipient famine.


It is not too much to say that the Strauss-Kahn's arrest, warranted or not, has jeopardized the very survival of billions and destabilized not only the European Union, but even the physical integrity of the continent. As of this writing several volcanoes – dormant for millions of years – were said to be rumbling back to life and most ominously of all a pall of smoke was seen spreading out from Mount Vesuvius.


As the European Union itself for some reason had placed most of its non-Brussels bureaucratic offices in New Pompeii, it is likely that an eruption of Vesuvius shall cover some of the most necessary workings of EU in lava and virtually paralyze the larger mechanisms of regional government. Unless Strauss-Kahn is released from jail it is probably not too strong to suggest that Fate of Civilization hangs in the balance and perhaps the very survival of mankind.


The Times also points out that Strauss-Kahn and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had "engaged in private discussion months before the 110 billion euro rescue last year." While this reinforces the man-on-the-street's view that "that IMF technocrats are responsible for Greece's economic problems," It also shows how deeply involved Strauss-Kahn's was personally in the Greek bailout, according to the Times.


Not only this, but despite Strauss-Kahn's high-testosterone charm, cooperation has "been spotty at best." In fact, the Times claims that Greek bureaucrats tend to view the IMF as "spies" working for Brussels and Washington and that further Greek bailout discussions (say, weren't they were illegal to begin with?) have been "tense" and "edgy."


The Times goes so far as to suggest that "Fund experts," (say, what exactly is an IMF "expert" – someone skilled at pushing teetering economies off the proverbial cliff?) are frustrated that Greek politicians that have not imposed more "reforms" (oh, laughable word) including more privatization, more cuts in public sector employment and more "flexibility" for private sector employers to hire and fire workers.


Fortunately, the Times intimates, not all is lost. If the world by some chance does not end within the next 24 hours, it is possible that the IMF's No. 2 executive, John Lipsky, "a former U.S. Treasury executive and onetime banker at JP Morgan," shall take over in the event of a criminal investigation. The Times tells us that as first deputy managing director of the IMF, Lipsky has been "overseeing the logistics of the Greek program." This is of course an endorsement.


Our view, extreme as many might think it, is that if every UN agency vanished from the face of the earth, the globe would be a much better place. That includes non-UN agencies like the World Bank and BIS. The IMF in particular does nothing but wreak havoc on people unlucky enough to be living in nations where their psychopathic leaders have squirreled away billions leaving their countries unable to pay their bills.


The IMF's prescriptions are always the same – and never work. Taxes are raised, services are cut and national assets are sold off to favored (Anglo-American) bidders. If leaders don't go along, their countries are bullied. If countries remove themselves from the IMF's prophylactic measures, they may end up like Argentina once did, with its entire middle class metaphorically (if not actually) picking through dumpsters to find a meal.


If only the Anglosphere elite would simply take a vacation, stop printing fiat money, stop passing nonsensical laws that put millions of innocent people in prison and ruin their families, and stop fomenting wars that murder and poison millions to keep in power! This would actually be a service to the world – were the elites to stop "helping" it. But that is not likely to happen anytime soon.


Instead we will likely be subjected to more media spin and more articles like the one in the New York Times bemoaning the fate of Irreplaceable Men. It is part of the larger dominant social theme that some people are simply born to rule others and that it is no accident that the power elite has the money and power it does. We don't believe it of course. The power elite gains its power by illegally manipulating government rules for personal gain – and there's nothing especially admirable about these sorts of activities.


Conclusion: But this is the spin, nonetheless, as can be seen by the New York Times article quoted above. Every word we quoted from the article was true by the way. (You thought we made up the part in italics but we didn't.) It really is amazing what the Times has come to. And who would believe Brussels Eurocrats would export their most critical functions and place essential assets in a series of million-square-meter offices in Pompeii directly below an active volcano? Surely they are cleverer than that!


Edited on date of publication.

Strauss-Kahn was to host the 2011 Bretton Woods Committee meeting-May 19-this thursday. He was set-up to be replaced by #2guy John LipSky,former Vice Chairman of the JPMorgan Investment Crook Bank! It will continue to be trickle-up gangster-style who can take the other out for control of Fiat-Banking!

chevy#3 wrote: Strauss-Kahn was to host the 2011 Bretton Woods Committee meeting-May 19-this thursday. He was set-up to be replaced by #2guy John LipSky,former Vice Chairman of the JPMorgan Investment Crook Bank! It will continue to be trickle-up gangster-style who can take the other out for control of Fiat-Banking!

here was his Topic at the meeting:



11:45 am – 12:30 pm


Summoning the Will to Act


Speaker:
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
http://www.brettonwoods.org/events/index.php?event_id=69&action=event_view&pf=1


Check out the bottom NOTE:
The Bretton Woods Committee would like to thank our strategic partner,

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), for its help in making this meeting possible.