Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn appears in New York Supreme Court during his arraignment hearing in New York, June 6, 2011. Strauss-Kahn entered a plea of not guilty to sexual assault charges and will appear in court again on July 18.Allan Tannenbaum/Reuters
The man assumed to be the top contender in France's 2012 presidential election, before being hit with allegations of attempted rape, did not so much walk as bounce out of a New York courthouse on Friday.
A visibly unburdened Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund after being indicted in May, was released on his own recognizance after prosecutors conceded his accuser had made false statements about her past and the events surrounding the alleged assault.
By the end of the day, it was clear that someone's political prospects had been seriously damaged. Just not those of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, who might conceivably still eye the Élysée, the French presidential palace.
His case, an international cause célèbre, has been the biggest test yet for Cyrus Vance Jr. since he was sworn in as New York's District Attorney 18 months ago. Mr. Vance, who has lost two other high-profile cases in recent weeks, now faces re-election in 2012 with a dark cloud over his head.
Mr. Vance and his team "came out very aggressively at the beginning with a set of unproven facts based only on allegations. Their behaviour was designed to sway public opinion," said Daniel Arshack, a New York criminal defence attorney. "They now have egg on their face."
The charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who left court with the other half of the French power couple he forms with journalist and heiress Anne Sinclair, were not dismissed on Friday. And while Mr. Strauss-Kahn's arduous bail conditions were lifted, his French passport was still withheld.
Some legal experts predicted, however, that dismissal of the case is now likely just a formality.
"I'm taking it at face value that the allegation that was made is not going to be able to be sustained in court," Mr. Arshack offered.
In a letter sent late Thursday to Mr. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, prosecutors revealed that a string of statements made by the hotel maid who brought the allegations had turned out to be false.
The 32-year-old native of Guinea, a former French colony in Africa, confessed to fabricating the story she told authorities to enter the United States in 2004. The letter said she "appeared markedly distraught" in describing to prosecutors the gang rape she endured in Guinea and cited on her asylum application. "In subsequent interviews," it added, "she admitted the gang rape had never occurred."
The alleged victim also lied on her U.S. tax returns to obtain a larger refund and understated her income to qualify for subsidized housing.
Perhaps most damaging to the prosecution's case, however, was the revelation of the inaccuracies in the account the maid first offered of the alleged May 14 assault. She initially claimed to have fled Mr. Strauss-Kahn's room at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan and reported the alleged abuse immediately. She later conceded that she instead cleaned an adjacent room, then told her supervisor of the attack.
Prosecutors did not comment Friday on a report in The New York Times that said that, within a day of the alleged rape, the woman was recorded on the phone with a man held in an undisclosed prison. The man is accused of possessing a prodigious amount of marijuana. The two reportedly discussed "the benefits of pursuing the charges" against Mr. Strauss-Kahn.
The prisoner, the paper reported, is one of several people who have deposited about $100,000 in the woman's bank account since 2009.
The extraordinary turn in what the French call l'Affaire DSK will only feed the conspiracy theories that have inundated the Internet since an unshaven and grim-looking Mr. Strauss-Kahn made his first court appearance on May 16.
The maid's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, held an animated press conference outside the courthouse in which he accused the District Attorney's office of leaking the information, which he called "a lie."
He added, "She made some mistakes but that doesn't mean she is not a rape victim."
At the hearing, New York Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said, "There will be no rush to judgment. The people will continue to investigate and re-examine the matter as appropriate."
On Friday night, Mr. Strauss-Kahn went out to an upscale restaurant, leaving his New York townhouse just hours after the judge released him from house arrest.
With a report from Reuters
Konrad Yakabuski