IMF Head Dominique Strauss-Kahn Faces Claim of Sexual Assault, Part Deux

It sounds like de javu, all over again …

62 year old IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested over the weekend and removed from an Air France plane at JFK International Airport on the charges of sexual assault of a NYC hotel maid. However, this is not the first time such accusations have been made of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as reported at the Guardian.

A local official of the Socialist party claimed that Strauss-Kahn had attacked her daughter, who is goddaughter to Strauss-Kahn’s second wife, in 2002.

Tristane Banon was in her 20s and writing a book when she approached Strauss-Kahn for an interview in 2002. In a TV programme in 2007, in which Strauss-Kahn’s name had been bleeped out, Banon allegedly described him as a “rutting chimpanzee” and described how she was forced to fight him off. “It finished badly … very violently … I kicked him,” Banon said. “When we were fighting, I mentioned the word ‘rape’ to make him afraid, but it didn’t have any effect. I managed to get out.”

Once is an occurrence, twice is a trend. What are the odds that this latest sexual assault accusation will sink Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s run for French President?

UPDATE I: Dominique Strauss-Kahn denied bail in sexual assault case, farewell Cayman Islands, say hello to Rikers Island. The judge obviously felt that Kahn was a flight risk and denied the $1 million bail.

The decision to deny bail was a surprising and striking defeat for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, whom many saw as a leading contender to become France’s next president. He was taken to Rikers Island, where he will be held in protective custody in a single-person cell instead.