EX-PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER INDICTED FOR "PIMPING"

Remember Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who was accused of raping a maid at the New York Sofitel in May 2011? The one-time French presidential frontrunner got off the hook that time after the New York D.A. dropped charges due to unreliable testimony by the alleged victim. ("DSK" later settled a civil lawsuit brought against him by the maid for a reported $6 million.) Apparently unable to learn his lesson, Strauss-Kahn was indicted this Friday for "soliciting prostitutes" for sex-parties that he admittedly took part in at the Carlton Hotel in Lille. His attorneys predict victory and vindication in a trial that could last as long as one year. The former political superstar better hope they're right: he risks ten years in prison and a € 1.5 million fine if convicted.

DSK: OFF THE HOOK BUT STILL IN THE DOGHOUSE?

As I predicted some time back, Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance, Jr., on Monday dropped all charges against former IMF director and ex-French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of raping a housekeeper at the New York Sofitel last May.

The alleged victim, Nafissatou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, was judged an unreliable witness by Vance because she was found to have lied on numerous points ranging from her refugee status to the mysterious sums of money in her bank account to the precise circumstances surrounding the May 14 encounter in Strauss-Kahn's room.

But if Strauss-Kahn is out from under the legal cloud that has hovered over him for the past three months, he has hardly gotten off scott free: his career and reputation are ruined, his presidential hopes dashed, and let's just see what becomes of his marriage to multimillionaire former TV journalist Anne Sinclair once he gets back to France.

Sinclair footed the bills for his lawyers, luxury lodgings and $600 pasta dinners at fancy restaurants while he was obliged to remain in the U.S., but now that he is free she no longer has to pose for the cameras holding his hand and putting up a good front as a loyal and supportive wife. One can just imagine the kind of pillow talk they have had since the news first broke.

As has become evident during the course of this lamentable episode, Strauss-Kahn is a serial sex predator who has been groping and harrassing women for decades. As long as his appalling behavior remained behind closed doors, Sinclair apparently turned a blind eye to it. But now she might well start singing the old Fats Waller tune: "How Can you Face Me?"

( http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/strauss-kahn-accuser-and-lawyer-meet-with-prosecutors/?emc=na)

STRAUSS-KAHN EXONERATED?

My Vanity Fair blog post last month on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn rape case examined the hypothesis that his accuser, a Guinean-born maid at the Sofitel in New York, may have been lying about the nature of their encounter.

(http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/05/strauss-kahn-predator-or-plot-victim.html)

My post also raised the question of whether the charges might be the result of a set-up arranged by DSK's political enemies. The post got a lot of attention, culling 724 "likes" and 38 comments. Most of the comments were favorable, but a few were scathing, accusing the author of being an anti-feminist, a racist and, worse of all, pro-French ("You have to live in France to believe such a thing is possible.")

I hate to say I told you so, but today's New York Times reports that the case is falling apart because the supposed victim has lied repeatedly to investivators, maintains relations with a network of criminals and drug dealers, and has mysteriously received deposits of $100,000 into her bank account. None of which proves a political plot, but all of which stinks. With even the prosecutor now concluding that his witness is not credible, the case is likely to be dropped in the next few days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/nyregion/strauss-kahn-case-seen-as-in-jeopardy.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

STRAUSS-KAHN'S DISGRACE: MELTDOWN OR SETUP?

How the mighty have fallen! Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, the director of the International Monetary Fund and, until this week, front-runner in France's 2012 presidential election, now sits in a jail cell on Rikers Island, accused of attempted rape, sexual aggressions and unlawful imprisonment allegedly committed against a New York hotel maid last Saturday. This incredible, improbable scenario has thrown the French political landscape into chaos, with the unpopular incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy rubbing his hands over his suddenly improved chances, far-right leader Marine Le Pen gloating over Strauss-Kahn's "pathological" behavior, and the defendant's Socialist Party colleagues scrambling to see who will replace him as their standard bearer--all the while preaching an innocent-till-proven-guilty line. It all sounds like the plot of an international thriller. And what if it is all a fiction?

Read my commentary on this point on Vanity Fair's website:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/05/strauss-kahn-predator-or-plot-victim.html