DNA matches Strauss-Kahn in sex attack
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New tests have found that the DNA of former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn matches material found on the shirt of a Manhattan hotel maid who says he attacked her, two people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.
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| Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn listens to his lawyer, William Taylor, inside of a New York State Supreme Courthouse during a bail hearing in New York May 19, 2011. Kahn was granted bail by a New York judge on Thursday, and the former IMF chief has vowed to fight charges that he tried to rape a hotel maid in Manhattan. [Photo/Agencies] |
They said DNA found on the maid's shirt matched to a sample of DNA from Strauss-Kahn, once a French presidential contender.
Strauss-Kahn is accused of attacking a 32-year-old housekeeper in his $3,000-a-night hotel suite. The West African immigrant told police he chased her down a hallway in the suite, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to remove her stockings.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, faces charges including attempted rape and sexual abuse. He is scheduled for arraignment on June 6.
Staff at the Sofitel Hotel also told authorities that he had made passes at them, including flirting with a clerk and calling another employee to ask her up to his room, according to a third person with direct knowledge of investigators' interviews with staff.
That person also wasn't authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Strauss-Kahn attorney Benjamin Brafman declined to comment on Monday.
At a court hearing last week, he told a judge that forensic evidence developed in the investigation "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter" - leading to speculation that Strauss-Kahn's defense would argue that it was consensual.
Strauss-Kahn had flirted with one female staff member who accompanied him to his luxury suite to make sure his accommodations were satisfactory after he checked in on Friday, May 13, the person said. Later, he phoned the desk clerk who had checked him in, asking her if she would like to get together with him when she got off duty, the person said. The desk clerk refused, saying she was not allowed to socialize with the VIP guest, the person said.
On Monday, lawyers for Strauss-Kahn continued to search for new digs for the former IMF leader, who spent the weekend under house arrest. He is temporarily staying with his wife at a luxury high-rise in lower Manhattan.
French and US media have been staking out the building where Strauss-Kahn was moved Friday from his Rikers Island jail cell.
Strauss-Kahn resigned last Wednesday from the IMF.
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