New York prosecutors on Monday recommended dropping all sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office filed court papers to recommend dropping the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was charged in May with sexually assaulting a hotel maid. Strauss-Kahn allegedly forced the maid, Guinean immigrant Nafissatou Diallo, to have sex with him after she arrived to clean his room. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have suggested that any sexual encounter was consensual.
Diallo’s attorney, Kenneth Thompson, denounced the decision by the Manhattan district attorney.
“He has not only turned his back on this innocent victim, but he has also turned his back on the forensic medical and other physical evidence in this case," he said.
Earlier, Thompson had filed a motion to disqualify as “unfit” District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. from participating in the case, charging that Vance’s office had treated Diallo “abusively.”
The move to end the case was widely expected after the district attorney's office disclosed that prosecutors felt Diallo had lied to them repeatedly about several matters, including her personal history and whether she had spoken to a friend after the incident about Strauss-Kahn’s wealth.
New York prosecutors have also said that Diallo fabricated a story on her U.S. asylum application about being gang-raped in her native Guinea.
Earlier this year, Diallo spoke with ABC television's "Good Morning America" program about the case. "I have made some mistakes, but this man tried to rape me. He tried to rape me," she said.
The charges against Strauss-Kahn are expected to be formally dropped at a court hearing set for Tuesday. At the time of this arrest, the former head of the International Monetary Fund was considered the leading Socialist Party contender in France’s next presidential election. The man who replaced him, Francois Hollande, says that once freed, Strauss-Kahn could resume an important role in French politics.
