Ex-IMF chief indicted in sex abuse case

A state judge in Manhattan Thursday afternoon approved a bail package for the release of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the high-profile French politician accused of sexually assaulting a maid at Manhattan's Sofitel.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, offered to pay for 24-hour monitoring by a security firm as part of a bail package as prosecutors announced he has been indicted for a sex assault of a hotel maid.

The application, in which the international diplomat said he would live in a Manhattan apartment rented by his wealthy wife, was opposed by prosecutors, who said Strauss-Kahn has been charged with four violent felonies. Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund until resigning Wednesday, was pulled off an international flight over the weekend and held at Rikers Island since a judge ordered him held without bail on Monday.

The ruling Thursday by Obus followed a renewed bail application by Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers.

They argued that his plane ticket was purchased a week in advance and he was not trying to flee.

They proposed that he post $1 million cash, be ordered to stay with a daughter who lives in New York City, and wear an ankle bracelet.

Prosecutor Artie McConnell said investigators had strong evidence corroborating the maid’s claim that he tried to rape her and forced her to perform a sex act, The Associated Press reported.

In the indictment released Thursday, prosecutors charged him with two counts of committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse in the first degree — all felonies — as well as unlawful imprisonment, third degree sexual abuse, and forcible touching.

Strauss-Kahn’s wife, Anne Sinclair, and daughter Camille, a Columbia student, sat in the first row during Thursday’s bail hearing.

He looked haggard, but brightened and smiled when he saw them.

His lawyer, William Taylor, said he had a net worth of $2 million. Posting $1 million, wearing an ankle bracelet and paying for round-the-clock electronic and human guards would assure he didn’t flee, Taylor said.

“He will appear,” Taylor said. “He has only one interest at this time and that is to clear his name.”