Police Seek OK to Search Fund Chief's Body After Accusations He Attacked Maid ~ Jakarta Forum

New Details in IMF Sex Case

(WSJ) The arrest of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual-assault charges threatened to upend French politics and weaken the IMF's central role in resolving Europe's deepening debt crisis.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62 years old, was expected to be arraigned Sunday night on charges of attempted rape, criminal sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment of a maid in the New York City hotel where he was staying, police said. Mr. Strauss-Kahn retained prominent defense attorney Benjamin Brafman, whose clients have included singer Michael Jackson and rapper Sean Combs. Mr. Brafman said Mr. Strauss-Kahn would plead not guilty.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn's arraignment was delayed late Sunday when police sought a search warrant to examine the IMF chief's body for scratches or the accuser's DNA, a law-enforcement official said.

New details emerged of the scramble to detain Mr. Strauss-Kahn in the hours after the alleged incident Saturday. A key moment came, police said, when Mr. Strauss-Kahn called the hotel to ask if he had left his cellphone there. A hotel security official fibbed and said he did have the phone—then asked for Mr. Strauss-Kahn's location to meet him and return it. Police made the arrest at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where Mr. Strauss-Kahn had boarded a flight for France.

The surprising arrest came amid increasing global attention for the IMF, an organization of 187 nations that advises and lends to troubled economies. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the fund's managing director, has been a proponent of financial rescues in Europe as the global economy recovers from the financial downturn and the Continent reels from a series of government debt crises.

The arrest could change the course of France's presidential elections next year. Mr. Strauss-Kahn had been widely expected to leave the IMF soon to enter the race as the leading Socialist Party candidate, and was running ahead of President Nicolas Sarkozy in recent polls. The arrest likely scuttles Mr. Strauss-Kahn's candidacy, and strengthens Mr. Sarkozy's prospects, analysts said. It could also boost the chances of far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, a prominent French journalist, said she didn't believe any of the accusations against her husband. In a statement, she said she had no doubt that "he will be proved innocent."

Before police apprehended him in the first-class section of an Air France airplane minutes before takeoff Saturday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was headed to Europe to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Sunday to discuss the debt crises in Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

He was scheduled to attend key meetings during the week with European finance ministers and other top officials to put finishing touches on an aid package for Portugal and assess options for stemming the deterioration in Greek finances.

The news threw shocked officials in the IMF's Washington headquarters into a frenzy of email, conference calls and informal meetings as they sought to assess their next steps—including their legal options.

The IMF's executive board, whose 24 officials represent the fund's countries, planned to convene Sunday evening for a session designed largely as an informal briefing. The No. 2 official at the fund, First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky, stepped into the role of acting managing director—under standard procedures during the absence of the top official—and planned to chair the meeting.

The IMF also dispatched a No. 3 official, Deputy Managing Director Nemat Shafik, to Brussels in Mr. Strauss-Kahn's place to attend a Monday meeting of euro-zone finance ministers.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn had been seen as a strong leader in responding to the Continent's debt crisis. He has supported Greece's bailout, even in the face of growing doubts about the Greek government's ability and resolve to meet the commitments of the aid package. He was expected to urge European governments to commit more money to bail out Greece as a condition for further IMF support for the nation.

His arrest could give critics of continued IMF support for Greece—and the rest of the euro zone—ammunition to push back.

Some emerging-market nations, for instance, have suggested that "if one of their countries were in trouble, the IMF would never give them so much rope," said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist and former IMF official.

As a top IMF official, Mr. Strauss-Kahn has diplomatic immunity only on official fund business. He was in New York on private business, an IMF official said. The potential sentence Mr. Strauss-Kahn could face if convicted will depend on the number and specific type of charges filed against him.

Police said a cleaning woman accused Mr. Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in the Sofitel Hotel near Times Square. The alleged victim said she entered room 2806, a $3,000-a-night luxury suite, around 12 p.m. on Saturday to clean it, thinking it was empty, according to a law-enforcement official with knowledge of the case.

According to the narrative she gave investigators, Mr. Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom nude and approached her from behind and touched her breast, then threw her on to the bed, the official said.

She told police she broke free but was then pushed into a rear hallway of the suite near the bathroom. Mr. Strauss-Kahn allegedly caught up with her and sexually assaulted her, the official said, before allowing her to leave.

The accuser informed hotel security officials, who showed her a photo of the suite's occupant. After she identified Mr. Strauss-Kahn as her attacker, hotel officials then called police. The victim was taken to a hospital where she was treated for trauma, tested for sexual assault and later released, the official said.

The official said detectives have recovered DNA evidence at the scene.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn checked out of the Sofitel at 12:28 p.m., police said. But it was his call from JFK airport to the hotel in search of his phone at 3:40 p.m. that identified his whereabouts. Police were then able to locate him and escort him from the plane. Later in the night, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was formally charged with sexual assault and attempted rape, the department later said in a statement.

The arrest threw into question whether Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be forced to resign his IMF slot. In 2008, early in his IMF term, he was investigated by the IMF's staff for whether he abused his power by having an affair with a female staffer. Although he was cleared of abuse of power charges, several directors said they warned Mr. Strauss-Kahn that such conduct wouldn't be allowed in the future and that he had brought the IMF into disrepute.

—Bob Davis, Ian Talley, Geraldine Amiel and Andrew Grossman contributed to this article.

Write to Tamer El-Ghobashy at tamer.el-ghobashy@wsj.com, Sudeep Reddy atsudeep.reddy@wsj.com and David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com