Strauss-Kahn Realeased Without Bail

When Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested for sexually assaulting a maid in a New York hotel, we suspected it could be another OJ Simpson case, the man is so rich he can buy the best lawyers in the country to get him off. And it looks like it’s working because yesterday he was released without bail because the credibility of the alleged victim is in serious doubt. His $US1 million bail and $US 5 million bond will now be returned and he is free to travel anywhere he likes in the US but authorities are still hanging onto his passport..

Its not looking good for the maid, they’ve done a good job digging up dirt on her background, the Strauss-Kahn’s team even travelled to her hometown in Guinea to check her out. And they’ve come up trumps – she falsely declared a friend’s child – along with her own daughter – as dependents on her tax return and she provided false information in her asylum application. She claims that in Guinea, West Africa, she and her husband had been beaten by the dictatorial regime and her husband died after being tortured in jail. She now admits that she made it all up. She also admits to making up a story about being gang raped in Guinea and to top it all off, his legal team has discovered she has possible links to drug dealing and money laundering. This must be music to his ears.

But the alleged victim's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson yesterday acknowledged that his client had lied on her asylum application but had in fact been raped by soldiers. "She was afraid to tell the prosecutors that the rape did not occur in connection with the asylum application because she did not want to be deported back to Guinea. He said his client had been a victim of genital mutilation in Guinea and was "very concerned that her young daughter... would also have to endure female genital mutilation.... and was desperate to prevent that from happening to her baby girl."

Mr Thompson admitted his client had made "some mistakes," but insisted the strength of the forensic evidence would prove Strauss-Kahn was guilty of a brutal sexual assault. He went on "The claim that this was consensual is a lie," Mr Thompson told reporters. "She made some mistakes but that doesn't mean she is not a rape victim." He said the attack was so violent that Strauss-Kahn tore a ligament in the maid's shoulder.

He’s worried that the district attorney’s office was laying the foundation to dismiss the case. "Our concern is that Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance is too afraid to try this case, he's afraid that he's going to lose this high-profile case." Strauss-Kahn will return to court on July 18.