Posted on 07/04/2011 4:11:37 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As the sexual assault case against Dominque Strauss-Kahn seems to be faltering, due to concerns that the accuser has been lying to investigators (plus, there are the more scurrilous rumors), he may actually face a new set of charges in his native country: Writer Tristane Banon, who has said in interviews that the former IMF head and leading Socialist politician of trying to rape her in 2002, is going to formally accuse him of rape. However, his lawyers suggests that Strauss-Kahn may countersue for slander.
Back in 2002, Banon interviewed Strauss-Kahn and met him an apartment. According to an interview she gave, Banon said they fought and he "opened my bra, tried to open my jeans. ... It finished very badly." Banon was convinced not to press charges by her mother, Anne Mansouret, a Socialist Party official.
After allegations of Strauss-Kahn's assault on a NYC hotel maid this past May, Mansouret explained what she told her daughter back then, "Listen, you know, if he had raped you, I wouldn’t have any hesitation, but that wasn’t the case. He sexually assaulted you, there wasn’t any rape per se; so until the end of your life, you’re going to have on your résumé, you know, Tristane Banon is the girl who ... '" But now Mansouret realizes that probably wasn't a great idea and wrote on her blog, "Now I regret having persuaded her not to bring charges. I carry a heavy responsibility. My daughter was in a bad way but it was awkward for reasons of family and friendship."
Banon's lawyer David Koubbi said that his client "truly suffered what she accuses Mr. Strauss-Kahn of doing" and said her case was "extremely solid." Unlike, perhaps, the case in NYC: The NY Times has a look at what happened with the investigation and some of the issues they faced:
“Since he was getting on a plane, getting out of the nation, they grabbed him faster than sooner, because it would have looked bad if they let him out of the country and they couldn’t get him back,” said a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who stepped down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund after his arrest.
“I guess, in a perfect world, they would not have had to arrest him right away,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because the case is continuing. “They could have checked the evidence and everything. But I guess they figured they had to get him off the plane. It changed the circumstances quite a bit.”
Of course all of this may be sparking "slumbering anti-Americanism" in France, too.
As it appears to face an uphill battle, the Manhattan DA's office appears to have started a PR offensive to explain why Strauss-Kahn still faces charges: A source tells the Daily News that the hotel maid was told the room was empty, "Nothing has been raised to indicate that she was targeting him... There was a lot of reason to believe what she was telling up. There were other [hotel] staffers who independently corroborated her actions and motions that day." Also, there's all the DNA evidence found that could back up the maid's claims she was assaulted, "It was rare to have so much corroboration on a sex crime."
No matter how this mess turns out,it’s gonna be a windfall for the lawyers.
More of a party official than her mother.
The mom’s statement says “sexual assault”. I read that their statute of limitations is 3 years.
This DSK dude has a history of taking what he wants because he is a French elitist bankster at heart.
"His" chapter was deleted from her book.....supposedly....
Nobody knows, it's never been tried.
Roman Polanski also got to skate for a while on this basis. I'm sure the mother does feel bad, and I'm glad she's trying to make up for it now.
Also, when the news about DSK's latest caper broke, I believe there was also another French woman who had said (years ago) that the same thing had happened to her, but IIRC she didn't want to discuss it now and just wanted to continue forgetting about the whole thing. Does anybody else remember this?
In any case, it's a very common thing for women, especially well-off, educated women who feel it "couldn't happen to them," to just want to forget the whole thing no matter how much they felt violated at the time.
She trusted him. He was virtually family. As her mother said...friendship and family got in the way of her pressing charges.
The Kennedys also got away with stuff like this for exactly the same reasons.
wasn’t there other women also coming forward besides this one?
He is an aristocrat serial rapist like Marquis de Sade, possibly an accomplished killer in the same tradition...
Well obviously it must be true because some woman says so.
amazing
Damn, I hate when that happens!
Strauss-Kahn de Sade... Schnitzelwaggers... Weiner Waivers... the Kennedys...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zPaqoPV4nE
Another modern femme trying to hitch a ride on a man’s fame and good reputation!
This guy is another Bill Clinton.
maybe the lady should put some ice on it.
It may not be right or legal but I do know those of my era that if this ever happened to their daughter or granddaughter at the hands of a so called elitist banker that the SoL would have no bearing on their opinion.
This French socialist banker has had a long history of this activity against women and his connections in government at the highest levels have allowed it to continue. He is special and they are not. Compare his status staying at a $3K per night room on government expense with the hotel maid charged with cleaning it, and tell me that the outcome there wasn’t exactly as anticipated. Of course they were going to trash her.
The second charge won’t be as easy to trash. He is the kind that we need to weed out of government.
I’ll be the first to state that both women who claim rape and their offenders should both be required to take lie detector tests out of the box.
Tristane Banon
France has a lot of problems. Their women don’t seem to be one of them.
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