Strauss-Kahn smiles at the bail result….but now he’s homeless

Strauss left nothing in his room, rang hotel later

As things begin to calm down in New York, more parts of the DA’s ‘account’ describing the movements of Nafissatou Diallo and Dominic Strauss-Kahn last weekend are starting to unravel.

As soon as he got to suite 2806, he phoned the front desk and asked the receptionist if she would like to join him for a drink, according to sources familiar with the prosecution’s case against the former head of the International Monetary Fund and contender for the presidency of France. The receptionist demurred.

This is standard DSK behaviour; but on the whole, running naked from the bathroom and jumping on strangers isn’t.

As The Slog argued last Tuesday, the 4:40 flight to Paris from which Strauss-Kahn was dragged had been booked on his behalf several days before. Although the alleged attack took place at 12.05, DSK checked out at 12.30. “He must be a very fast dresser,” said one (anonymous) NYPD officer.

Although Jeffrey Shapiro the maid’s lawyer didn’t mention this point, Strauss-Kahn called the hotel to say he he might have left one of his cell phones in the suite. This doesn’t strike me as the action of a man fleeing the country, and keen to keep his location secret.

But this one is a biggy: contrary to initial reports, there was no phone actually found in the room. None of Strauss-Kahn’s effects had been left behind. The whole story of DSK’s precipitate departure turns out to be complete bollocks.

Shapiro also claimed that “the alarm was raised and the police called immediately”. But the first call logged at the NYPD police is timed at 1.30 pm….90 minutes later.

Meanwhile, the former IMF boss must find another place to stay when he leaves his Rikers Island jail cell, because the Upper East Side building where his wife had rented an apartment will not accept him. Resident Barry Schwartz said residents did not want the publicity Mr. Strauss-Kahn would bring. “He’s very high profile,” Mr. Schwartz said, “and it’s upsetting to tenants to have all of that.”

Ah, the milk of human kindness.