Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Press Association Images
Strauss-Kahn

Embattled Strauss-Kahn assembles crisis team to fight back against rape allegations

The former IMF head’s team includes PR gurus and private investigators as he looks to fight allegations of attempted rape in the US and rebuild his reputation back in France.

DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN is reported to be assembling a “crack team” of investigators, former spies and advisers as he prepares to fight back against changes that he sexually assaulted a hotel chambermaid.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was forced to resign earlier this month after he was arrested and charged with attempted rape and other sexual offences against a woman working at a New York hotel.

Reuters reports that his team will face a difficult task as they handle his legal problems in the US while trying to bolster his damaged reputation in France where he had harboured hopes of running as a candidate in the presidential election next year.

The 62-year-old has moved from temporary accommodation near ground zero in New York to more permanent townhouse in the suburb of Manhattan where he is under house arrest as lawyers plot his defence strategy.

The defence team has hired a private investigations firm specialising in criminal cases as well as one of France’s best-connected PR outfits.

A little-known “strategic advisory” firm which boasts two partners who are ex-CIA officers has also reportedly been brought on board.

Strauss-Kahn is being represented by prominent New York criminal lawyer Benjamin Brafman who is heading the legal team.

His former clients include rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and deceased pop star Michael Jackson, as well as high-profile mobsters such as Vincent “The Chin” Gigante and Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, reports The Atlantic.