Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn cleared in pimping trial

[ucrdem]

Source: USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 9:51 a.m. EDT June 12, 2015


Dominque Strauss-Kahn has been acquitted of "aggravated pimping" charges by a French court. The former managing director of the International Monetary Fund was accused of taking part in organized orgies with prostitutes at a French hotel. USA TODAY

The verdict is the last step in four years of legal drama for Strauss-Kahn — sometimes referred to as DSK — that began when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011. That case was later settled out of court, although it left the economist's reputation in tatters and his career in jeopardy.

The charges that he was cleared of Friday relate to separate accusations that he took part in and even organized orgies with prostitutes at a French luxury hotel — accusations DSK has consistently denied. Ten other people were also acquitted on Friday at the court in Lille, France.

"All that for this?" DSK said as he left the courtroom in northern France on Friday. "What a waste."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/06/12/dominique-strauss-kahn-imf-sex-trial/71109916/

[cascadiance]

1. This seems like interesting timing given what's happened in Greece...

... and that he was working heavily on issues around Greek debt, etc. at the time he was arrested many years back.

Something still smells about this whole situation. Hard to see who the good people and the bad people are, but I have a feeling a lot of them have both traits in this mess.

[ucrdem]

2. Not much left of his reputation, that's for sure.

I think his wifed divorced him too. Yeah somebody didn't like him and I can guess who.

[geek tragedy]

3. People who don't like rapists? nt

[ucrdem]

4. Hint, he just changed his party's name to Republican

Hope that helps

[Peace Patriot]

6. Why are you piling on? How do you know what happened in the NY hotel?

The NY prosecutors dropped the charges.
The alleged victim settled out of court.
But you know better? You know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he IS a "rapist"? How do you know this?

It has taken me a lifetime of observation, experience and self-training, to learn healthy skepticism about Corporate News, which often has the characteristics of a mob led by evil manipulators, whether it's to "bomb, bomb, bomb Iraq" or hate leftists leaders in Latin America, or grab custody of a whistleblower with an elaborate "honey trap" run through Sweden and, at the least, destroy his reputation, or to get the American public to buy into capital punishment, the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs" and vast imprisonment of the poor, or to lynch a politician who has fallen out of favor with the Corporate Elite.

Why has Dominique Strauss-Kahn spent the last few years mired in legal troubles that came to nothing, while Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld--the heinous murderers of millions of people, the master thieves of billions of dollars--being consulted by the Corporate News for their opinions on foreign policy? Where are THEIR legal troubles?

Please be careful about allegations touted by the Corporate News, most especially when zealous prosecutors and the Corporate News join forces to go after somebody. Recently, U.S. federal prosecutors filed drug charges against the leftist leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, in a very obvious smear game against Venezuelan leftists. I followed a case out of Miami during the Bush Junta whereby the CIA (and/or the Miami Mafia) sent a guy named "Guido" with a suitcase full of $700,000 cash through customs at Buenos Aires international, in a plot to tag Hugo Chavez with illicit campaign contributions to the leftist candidate for president of Argentina (who won without the CIA's 'helpful' money). A U.S. prosecutor in Miami was deeply involved in that plot. Currently, U.S. prosecutors are acting in blatant defiance of the will of the people of California by zealously prosecuting medical marijuana establishments; leading SWAT teams in to terrify innocent people and seize their property and destroy their lives.

Skepticism. U.S. prosecutors are not necessarily "good guys." They may be very bad guys serving a very, very corrupt Corporate/Military Establishment. And if even they could not find or invent sufficient facts to kick Strauss-Kahn down the stairs, why trumpet their unprovable charges as if they were true?

I DON'T KNOW if Strauss-Kahn is a "rapist." I think it's quite plausible that he was set up for political reasons, by people who know that they can use the Corporate News as mob leaders, to lynch any target they choose. He may be a bad guy, and he may not be. He may be quite a good guy (was pushing a more progressive agenda for the IMF--an institution that has been one of the great evildoers in the "third world&quot . It's even possible he could be both--some bad, some good. I simply DON'T KNOW. And I will NOT make assumptions of guilt on the basis of allegations, endlessly repeated by the Corporate News, that have not even been aired in a courtroom, let alone proven beyond a reasonable doubt. And even then--EVEN THEN--the prosecutors, the judge and the jury CAN BE WRONG. That has been proven, time and again. There are innocent people in jail--in addition to the tens of thousands of people who are imprisoned in the U.S. for actions that would, in any sane society, never have been considered crimes.

Healthy skepticism. Prosecutors can be wrong. The Corporate News can be wrong. Dead wrong.

[geek tragedy]

7. I believe the immigrant woman of color over the decadent global capitalist nt

[jberryhill]

9. I'll trust Barack Obama on this one

"Hang on there, Slick."

[ucrdem]

10. ....

[JI7]

16. OBama comes across many figures in certain positions since he is President

there are pictures of Obama with Bush .

none of that means anything and strauss kahn is still a rapist .

[jberryhill]

21. Whoosh

Take a look at the picture again.

What do you see happening in it?

Make up a story to go with the poses and expressions.

[Peace Patriot]

11. Yeah, I would likely have that prejudice, too...

...if, say, I were on a jury in a courtroom and had to evaluate witness testimony, prosecutor's statements, defense statements, evidence and guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt." I would hope that I could be fair in that circumstance. i would hope that I would not convict a man of rape BECAUSE the alleged victim was an "immigrant woman of color." That would be an injustice.

And we are talking about a media circus, not a courtroom. That is my point. This never came to trial, so there was never, at any point, any chance to evaluate the allegation in any objective way, by anybody--except perhaps the prosecutors themselves who, after insuring that Strauss-Kahn's reputation was in ruins, didn't file charges--i.e., had determined that their witness was unreliable and/or the evidence fell apart.

Despite my likely prejudice in favor of an "immigrant woman of color," I cannot rule out the possibility that such a woman--or, indeed, any person at all--could be bribed, coerced, bullied or blackmailed into making false charges. EVEN an "immigrant woman of color" could be lying.

Your assumption that "immigrant women of color" would never lie, or could never be bribed or bullied into doing so, is absurd. And your assumption that Strauss-Kahn is guilty of rape merely because the Corporate News reported that he was ACCUSED of rape, and the accuser was an "immigrant woman of color," is so twisted toward injustice that I can hardly believe that you said this.

It may well be--actually it is undeniable--that this woman is one of many, many women who have been victimized and robbed and viciously oppressed, and, God knows that the IMF, which Strauss-Kahn headed, is directly responsible for much of that oppression. This does not make Strauss-Kahn a rapist. I'm sorry. It just doesn't. I don't care how privileged he is.

I urge healthy skepticism. And I urge it particularly when prosecutors and/or Corporate Media play TO our prejudices, which they very often, very cleverly, do.

[cascadiance]

8. I'm a skeptic as well...

I'm not ready to praise him or condemn him. If he did that sexual abuse, I don't care what other things he did or didn't do for us. That isn't acceptable. But, often times you'll find that other events are exposed in people's lives very strategically, and many of those that we are "made" to condemn are no worse than some of those who we praise, but who the PTB protects their hidden secrets. I think that is the problem with our so-called "news" these days. Often times we are wondering what is really happening, and if we are hearing the full story.

I just think that when events are timed interestingly in parallel fashion in to adjacent and potentially related timelines, I think one has to ask a lot of questions these days, because the so-called press won't. That is why if others have more events like this that we can link together that can either bring forth more suspicion or perhaps allay our concerns and these coincidences being just that, that's what I like DU for being here. That place where we can explore those alternate truths to see if they might be real or not.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

12. Do innocent men 'settle out of court' with their 'alleged victims' often?

I'd think if he was truly innocent, he'd have wanted that proclaimed loudly and clearly in court. He's rich enough, he could have afforded the best lawyers. The fact that the legal advice he got was 'settle' tells you what they thought of his innocence.

[Peace Patriot]

13. Yes, an innocent man might well settle out of court for many reasons...

...other than guilt. For instance, what if the maid had not been bribed or bullied into making false charges, but had simply misunderstood something--say, he came out of the shower naked not realizing she was in his room, she got scared, he tried to calm her down and she felt assaulted, though he had not intended assault? Further, say, in that circumstance, he didn't like the idea of having to oppose her in court; he didn't feel good about doing that, and he also knew that his reputation would be further dragged through the mid whatever the outcome.

That's just one possible scenario of his innocence that would cause him to settle out of court. You say he would want to vindicate himself if he was innocent. If innocent, he might want to do that but felt that he could never win in this situation. That is another reason he would settle--to get it over with, to get on with his life and to try to salvage his reputation from these false accusations.

Then they hit him with charges in France that he, in essence, pimpled a party with prostitutes for friends and himself. Strauss-kahn has freely spoken about his libertarian lifestyle. In France, having sex with prostitutes is not a crime. But pimping is. He was just exonerated of pimping, by the judge in that case. Are we to pile on this man because of his openly admitted lifestyle? Are we going to engage in witchhunting--that is, convicting him of the crime of not being as "Puritan" as we think he should be? Are we to pummel him because charges were brought against him that were not proven? Doesn't he have the right of being innocent until proven guilty?

We DO NOT KNOW why he settled out of court. We DO NOT KNOW what happened in the NY hotel room. And it is really unfair to make assumptions about any of it, on the basis of virtually no evidence; nor should we make the assumption that he is lying and she is not based on their social positions. This was a media circus, and a very suspicious one at that, given his progressive views on debt restructuring, with the Greece situation in development at the time. There is reason to suspect foul play. He could be a VICTIM, not a perp. And when somebody suffers this kind of "hit," it is not easy to fight back, because the very method of such an attack is to keep the instigators secret and keep the situation MURKY. It's very, very dirty pool. That would be another reason to settle. You don't know who is behind it or what else they might do.

[mylye2222]

14. Yes and it was Sarkozy.

[ucrdem]

19. je crois que vous avez raison...

hi mylye!

[ucrdem]

5. More from Reuters:

Having settled financially with Sofitel maid Nafissatou Diallo after New York prosecutors abandoned criminal charges in 2011, the 66-year-old stood accused in France of instigating the organization of orgies with prostitutes.

"He cannot be attributed the role of instigator," judge Bernard Lemaire said when reading out a verdict in the presence of Strauss-Kahn and 13 others. "He just availed of the sexual services of a group."

(snip)

In the so-called Carlton affair, named after a luxury hotel in Lille, the acclaimed economist and French finance minister of the late 1990s was tried with 13 others on charges that he instigated sex parties with prostitutes. He flatly denied any wrongdoing.

While frequenting prostitutes is not a crime in France, procuring them is. A conviction on charges of "aggravated pimping" can carry a sentence of up to a decade in prison and a fine of up to 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million).

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/us-france-strauss-kahn-idUSKBN0OS13C20150612

[Recursion]

15. This guy

[ucrdem]

17. "The uploader has not made this video available in your country"

But I'm guessing that isn't really DSK?

[Recursion]

18. Ha, sorry. No, it's an SNL take on DSK. What country are you in?

I'm in India, maybe that one is India-only?

[ucrdem]

20. US, and I can see one frame so I figured as much.

It goes dark when I click it but I'll see if I can find it here and post it ....



found it

p.s. better video here: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dominique-strauss-kahn-cold-open/n13146

[Oneironaut]

22. Who saw this coming - esp. when even the Prosecutor was working for the defense.

Career in jeopardy? I'm sure the legions of kiss-asses that lined up to go "aww... poor thing!" will help out. He should go work for Wall Street - then he wouldn't even have to go to trial.