Report: New Investigation Suggests Disgraced Former IMF Chief was Framed

Remember the huge scandal that rocked the EU after Dominic Strauss-Khan (DSK) was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York?

Ever since the accusation was first leveled against him, several details have come to light that have called into question the veracity of the claims, including the dubious integrity of the maid herself, and may imply that something bigger was afoot.

Now some are claiming that he was framed.

Although he admitted to having “inappropriate” relationship with the maid, he admittedly denies it and went on French television to reiterate his position:

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, did not describe what happened with Ms. Diallo, except to insist that the encounter did not involve violence, constraint or aggression. But he appeared to have been shaken by what happened afterward, saying that he was “afraid, very afraid” in the days after his arrest, in which the New York police hauled him off an airplane just minutes before it was to take off for Paris on May 14. “When you are caught in the jaws of this machine, you have the impression that it can crush you. I was humiliated before I could even say a word in my defense.”

Following his denials of sexual assault, and the fact that U.S. courts threw the case out because of complainant’s questionable credibility and inconclusive physical evidence, new details have been revealed that place the entire ordeal in a whole new light.

“Almost 6 months later though, investigative reporter Edward Jay Epstein has published a detailed account of that days events after pouring through court documents and checking out surveillance footage,” writes Business Inisder.

The details in the report are so intriguing that many have been led to believe that, yes, Strauss-Khan may have been framed.

Here are some of the most curious facts (as compiled by Linette Lopez of Business Inisder):

1. DSK’s IMF [International Monetray Fund] Blackberry is still missing: Where was this in the news? Epstein points out that even before the Sofitel [the New York Hotel DSK was staying at] encounter, DSK had been warned that his IMF Blackberry (which he used for a mix of personal and professional communication) had been compromised. A friend told him that Sarkozy’s party was somehow in possession of an e-mail he sent to his wife, Ann Sinclair. He was about to have the phone examined for bugs in Paris. This is the Blackberry he lost after his encounter with Sofitel maid Naffest Diallo. She entered his room around 12:06 PM or 12:07 PM. She left around 12:13 PM. He then called his daughter Camille on his personal phone, met her for lunch, and shortly after he left McCormick and Schmicks where he was dining with Camille, he realized his IMF phone was gone.

2. Diallo kept going back to the same hotel suite all day and we still don’t know who was staying in it: according to key card swipe records, Diallou visited room 2820 a few times on May 14, including while a guest could have still been there. She also went there immediately after leaving DSK’s suite. She did not tell the prosecution about this.

3. The hotel’s security company has close ties to Sarkozy: A French company called Accor group owns the Sofitel hotel. And while Diallo was reporting DSK in NYC, their head of security, René-Georges Querry, was attending a soccer game with President Sarkozy. Back in NYC, John Sheehan the director of safety and security at Accor made a mysterious call to an unidentified 646 number while en route to the Sofitel to look into the Diallo issue.

There’s more: Xavier Graff, the duty officer at the Accor Group in Paris, later sent an e-mail where he lauds “bringing down DSK” (he later said it was a joke), and on May 14th, a security guard and an unidentified man were seen giving each other high fives and celebrating around 1:28 PM. This is the same unidentified man who took Diallo to the security office when she reported being assaulted at 12:52 PM.

Given all of these eyebrow-raising details, one is left with some big questions: why would someone want to frame Strauss-Khan? To what purpose would it serve to end his career as the chief of the IMF?

Perhaps it was because, at the time, he posed a serious threat to Nikolas Sarkozy’s reelection bid. Or perhaps it was because Christine Lagarde was tired of waiting to become the next IMF chief.

Whatever the case, the newly revealed details of the DSK sexual assault charges certainly raise some interesting questions.

Read the entire report here.