<p>Tom:
She’s a “stand by your man kind of wife, no matter what they do,” it seems.</p>
<p>parent57…I, nor anyone else on this thread so far, is “equating” both of their “wrongs.” Simply, both have done some unsavory things.</p>
<p>As far as I know, only the NY Post reported that the maid was a prostitute. I had mentioned this in a previous post, then went and read the story, and edited my post to delete that information. The NY Post story is from a single unnamed source, and the story itself is ridiculous (for example, they claim that her union was involved in the prostitution). If that is the only source, we can’t say that she was a prostitute.</p>
<p>DSK may or may not have raped the maid. We know he had sex with her. I agree that even women with shady associates and illegal actions in their pasts can be raped, and this is a crime, but she is so compromised as a witness that no one can be convicted based on her word. Either he committed a brutal rape and will get away with it, or he was falsely charged with rape, was paraded in front of the world’s press, spent a night in Riker’s Island, lost his job, his wife spent a fortune for lawyers, house arrest apartment, etc., and he has probably lost the chance to be president of France. Either way, a terrible miscarriage of justice.</p>
<p>Why would an innocent man flee so quickly to the airport to get on a flight out that he leaves his cell phone, personal items and what not? And why would he initially insist that he was not intimate with the woman at all? Anyone who high tails it to the airport with only his passport and his wallet and can get out on the next flight is both wealthy and in trouble.</p>
<p>I can think of two possible reasons he claimed to have not had sexual relations with the maid. One is that married men who cheat may not admit it. Another could be that he paid for sex and prostitution is illegal. (I suppose there is the the possibility that he raped her, but that would never be proved at this point due to credibility issues with the maid).</p>
<p>Also, I think his luncheon date with his daughter and his flight out were all preplanned. He may have left the hotel in a hurry due to whatever transpired with the maid (who knows, she could have threatened to report it or some such to him…in an effort to be paid off). I recall reading that when he realized he left his cell phone back at the suite, he called from the airport asking for it to be sent to him and this is how they found his whereabouts, due to his call and request.</p>
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<p>I don’t understand why people keep thinking that he fled to the airport. The facts on what happened have been out for quite some time.</p>
<p>A street fair had shut down a stretch of Avenue of the Americas between his Midtown hotel and the restaurant where he was due for lunch. Stuck in traffic, he called his daughter, Camille, from a taxi to tell her he was on his way; she should go ahead and order for him, he said. Once he arrived, they had fish and shared a chilled bottle of white wine. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>The lunch, which lasted about 90 minutes, one of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers said at his bail hearing, could figure prominently in the case, which has already cost him his post as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund and his status as a leading contender for the French presidency. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/nyregion/strauss-kahns-lunch-demeanor-may-play-role-in-trial.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/nyregion/strauss-kahns-lunch-demeanor-may-play-role-in-trial.html</a></p>
<p>This article also has much more of the timeline and many more details of losing the cell-phone and then searching for it. He was in a hurry out of the hotel because he had a lunch date with his daughter and was also meeting her boyfriend. They had a 90 minute lunch which I would consider leisurely.</p>
<p>Agree with that. And he may have been running late to the lunch because of the unplanned rendezvous with the maid!</p>
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<p>This appears to be the case. His defense team will not talk directly about a sexual encounter only saying that any sex that occurred was consensual. I would expect good lawyers to never admit that their clients had committed a crime outside of using hypothetical statements.</p>
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<p>The phone that he left at the hotel was his IMF-issued phone. He apparently had another phone with him that he used to call his daughter from the taxi.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest reading the linked article.</p>
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<p>Yup.</p>
<p>The restaurant where they dined has surveillance and the defense team is trying to get footage of DSK and his daughter from investigators at the lunch and the restaurant. They are also trying to get any other footage or still images available in the area. They want to demonstrate that the lunch was casual. I’m not sure why the prosecution isn’t releasing the video or stills to the defense team unless they want to review it carefully first (which could take quite a while).</p>
<p>Interesting article…</p>
<p>[Lesson</a> of DSK? Be careful who you’re alone with - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/02/schwartz.dsk.sex/index.html]Lesson”>Lesson of DSK? Be careful who you're alone with - CNN.com)</p>
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<p>I will add that I think it is even riskier for those who hold a public position.</p>
<p>The maid lives in a housing project where there are many people with AIDS. Did the woman have AIDS or just lie about her income to get into a cheap apartment? Who knows, but it’s a roll of the dice for DSK.</p>
<p>An interesting side light: We were in Paris when this whole incident happened. It was absolutely fascinating to hear other French politicians comment about America’s puritanical views vis a vie What happens if a politician has affairs? Do you talk about it? Do you make it an issue politically?</p>
<p>EVERY politician interview (mostly men, but two women were also interviewed) said that affairs/marriages/sexuality was a non issue and not to be discussed.</p>
<p>^^ indeed, that is generally the European - or at least the French - way of looking at it.</p>
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<p>That’s the way I feel too, but he was not accused of having an affair. He was accused of rape, and that should not be hushed up. If the accusations were true-- and we now have good reason to believe they are not-- he would have committed a serious crime.</p>
<p>Well actually…he has had affairs. I wasn’t referring to this as an affair. It was mentioned on Paris television that he had other women…not as one night (or hour) stands.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, Europeans are nowhere near as puritanical as Americans seem to be.</p>
<p>The DSK scandal brought the pervasive sexual harrassment and coercion at the IMF to light, possibly prompting some reforms</p>
<p>The French have a lot more insight into DSK <em>before</em> electing him president, or not</p>
<p>The US may be able to get rid of a very undesirable* alien (*except perhaps to the French who also enjoy eating snails)</p>
<p>The hotel is rid of an undesirable employee - I’m sure they don’t want their staff supplementing their incomes with prostitution</p>
<p>DSK is presumably receiving prophylaxis to prevent seroconversion (getting AIDS) hopefully at his own expense, if the French health service doesn’t cover his treatment here</p>
<p>DSK’s wife doesn’t need to give up her marriage and social position over this due to the different social expectations in France</p>
<p>“Even the phone the maid used to make the call was problematic for her credibility. The woman initially said she had only one phone. Early last week, she told investigators that she had a second cellphone she used to call the inmate in Arizona because it was a local number and was cheaper, according to law-enforcement officials.”</p>
<p>"Prosecutors need to further investigate the maid’s statements in the call, because it has not been fully transcribed yet, one law-enforcement official said. "</p>
<p>"They also are looking into financial transactions involving tens of thousands of dollars in deposits to a bank account in her name made by men in different states. The maid told prosecutors that she had given the bank-account number to the inmate in Arizona and wasn’t aware whether any of the deposits were related to illegal activities. Large withdrawals have also been made from the account, but investigators are still trying to determine who made them, one law-enforcement official said. "</p>
<p>[Prosecutors</a> Have Doubts in Strauss-Kahn Case - WSJ.com](<a href=“Prosecutors Have Doubts in Strauss-Kahn Case - WSJ”>Prosecutors Have Doubts in Strauss-Kahn Case - WSJ)</p>
<p>It appears that the prosecution is trying to find out what happened in the room from the accuser. It appears that the accuser and accused are not providing any information about the prostitution aspect (their lawyers shouldn’t allow them to admit to a crime without immunity). Absent that, there are some big holes in the prosecution trying to figure out what happened.</p>
<p>“She was believable, crying and eliciting tears from one prosecutor during one of their interviews as she told of being gang raped in Guinea, a story she later admitted to making up, according to a court filing by prosecutors Friday.”</p>
<p>This lady appears to be quite the skilled liar.</p>
<p>The prosecution apparently wants to talk to some of the people that made deposits and withdrawals into her bank account. That could provide for some interesting contact names given the type of people that use that hotel.</p>
<p>She can’t exactly come out and say she was a prostitute because then she would be on the record. (And then she would be charged) And since DSK is not exactly going to claim it either that avenue is effectively blocked. (Unless she loses her mind and admits to it) DSK is just going to claim it was consensual and she’ll just stall. So in the end, DSK goes free.</p>
<p>IMHO, this is starting to look more and more like she’s part of either a prostitution or drug ring. Multiple burner phones, multiple deposits in separate states etc… </p>
<p>The comical aspect to all of this is that when this all first came to light, the media had her touted as very devout and credible. lol What a farce</p>
<p>I have not see such a drastic 180 in a high profile case in decades tbh.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read they both seem to have met their match. One good thing that comes out of this case is that a high ranking international person will be put in jail if that person commits a crime in USA soil.</p>