A New York judge granted bail Thursday for former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Khan after he was indicted on felony charges of criminal sexual act and attempted rape of a hotel maid
Strauss-Khan, who faces decades in prison if convicted, displayed relief as Judge Michael J. Orbis granted him $1 million bail, but he isn't expected to be out of jail until Friday and, even then, will be under house arrest.
Under the bail agreement, Strauss-Khan, who already surrendered his passport, will be supervised by armed guards and required to stay at a Manhattan apartment that will be rented by his wife, Anne Sinclair, who was in the courtroom during Thursday’s hearing. His attorney said the bail arrangement will cost his client about $200,000 a month.
Strauss-Kahn will spend one more night at the jail on New York's Rikers Island. Authorities need to review and approve some security arrangements. He will also have to take out a $5 million insurance bond. It's not believed the wealthy banker will have any problem meeting the financial conditions of his release.
"He's going back to Rikers tonight and we expect him to be released tomorrow," said William Taylor, one of his attorneys.
Court papers filed Thursday detailed allegations leveled against Strauss-Khan.
On May 14, Stauss-Khan allegedly closed the door of his hotel room to prevent a female hotel staff member from leaving and grabbed the victim’s chest and other areas without consent, attempting to remove her pantyhose, according to court documents. The documents indicate that he tried to force the woman to perform oral sex on him.
Strauss-Kahn resigned from his post in a letter released by the IMF's executive board on Wednesday.
In the letter, Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations but said he felt compelled to resign with "great sadness" because he was thinking of his family and also wanted to protect the IMF.
Click here to read the full text of Strauss-Kahn's resignation letter.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, "is a loving husband and father, and a highly regarded diplomat, politician, lawyer, politician, economist and professor, with no criminal record," his attorneys wrote.
Investigators have revisited the penthouse hotel room to cut out a piece of carpet in a painstaking search for DNA evidence, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. New York detectives and prosecutors believe the carpet in the hotel room may contain Strauss-Kahn's semen, spat out after an episode of forced oral sex, the officials told The Associated Press.
One of the officials said that the DNA testing was being "fast-tracked" but that the results could still be a few days away.
The two officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither was authorized to speak about the case publicly and because it has gone to a grand jury.
The maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea, told police that Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down, forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear before she broke free and fled the room.
Strauss-Kahn went from his luxurious hotel suite to an isolated cell block at Rikers normally reserved for patients with contagious diseases. Kept in protective custody and on a suicide watch, authorities said he ate his meals alone in a single cell and was escorted everywhere by prison guards.
In addition to examining the Sofitel Hotel suite for further potential DNA evidence, investigators were looking at the maid's keycard to determine whether she used it to enter the room, and how long she was there, officials said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly declined to comment Wednesday on the details of the evidence-gathering but said results of any DNA and other testing have not yet come back. He said the detectives investigating the case found the maid's story believable.
"Obviously, the credibility of the complainant is a factor in cases of this nature," Kelly said. "One of the things they're trained to look for, and what was reported to me early on, was that the complainant was credible."
One of Strauss-Kahn's attorneys, Benjamin Brafman, said at his client's arraignment this week that the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter." That led to speculation the defense would argue it was consensual sex.
The woman's lawyer, Jeffrey Shapiro, has dismissed suggestions from some of Strauss-Kahn's defenders that she made up the charges or tried to cover up a consensual encounter.
Strauss-Kahn is one of France's highest-profile politicians and was seen as a potential candidate for president in next year's elections. His arrest shocked France.
The scandal comes at a critical moment for the International Monetary Fund, which is trying to shore up teetering economies in Europe. The IMF is an immensely powerful agency that loans money to countries to stabilize the world economy. In exchange it often imposes strict austerity measures.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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