NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged on Sunday with sexually assaulting a maid at a New York hotel, a scandal that appeared to wreck his hopes of running for president of France.
Here is a timeline of events:
FRIDAY AFTERNOON - Strauss-Kahn checked into a $3,000 a night suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan. The suite has a foyer, a conference room, a living room and a bedroom. The 30-storey hotel has an Art Deco restaurant and bar called Gaby, which the website (www.sofitel.com) says serves 'French flair in a glamorous setting.'
The hotel is near Times Square, Broadway theaters, Fifth Avenue shopping and Central Park.
SATURDAY ABOUT 1:30 P.M. EDT (1730 GMT) - A 32-year-old maid entered Strauss-Kahn's suite, room 2806, which she apparently thought was unoccupied.
'She told detectives he came out of the bathroom naked, ran down a hallway to the foyer where she was, pulled her into a bedroom and began to sexually assault her,' New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesman Paul Browne said.
'She pulled away from him and he dragged her down a hallway into the bathroom where he engaged in a criminal sexual act, according to her account to detectives. He tried to lock her into the hotel room.'
The woman fled and reported the incident. Strauss-Kahn left the hotel, leaving behind his mobile phone.
Emergency medical responders were called to the hotel and took the woman to a hospital where she was treated and released.
SATURDAY 4 P.M. - Strauss-Kahn boarded Air France flight 23 for Paris at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and was seated in the first class section. He had been due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Europe on Sunday and attend meetings on the region's debt crisis on Monday.
SATURDAY 4:40 P.M. - Police from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the bridges, tunnels and airports in the area, boarded the flight minutes before it was due to depart and detained Strauss-Kahn. He was not handcuffed.
The Port Authority police turned him over to NYPD detectives from the Midtown South Precinct, which covers the area of Manhattan where the Sofitel hotel is located. They handcuffed him.
Strauss-Kahn made no statements and requested a lawyer. He was taken to the NYPD's Special Victims Unit in the Harlem neighborhood, where he was kept in a nondescript holding cell by himself. The Special Victims Unit investigates sex crimes.
SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING, TIME UNKNOWN - The consul general of France met with Strauss-Kahn under the regular rules of consular protection for all French citizens detained abroad, said Marie-Laure Charrier, a spokeswoman for the French consulate in New York.
SUNDAY 1:15 A.M. - Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Ben Brafman told Reuters in an email that the IMF chief will plead not guilty.
Brafman is a high-profile criminal lawyer who was part of Michael Jackson's legal team that successfully defended the pop singer against child molestation charges in 2005. Brafman also won an acquittal on weapons and bribery charges for rap mogul Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.
SUNDAY 2:15 A.M. - Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.
He spent the night in the holding cell at the Special Victims Unit, which is on the second floor of a red brick and concrete building.
The building is also home to Police Service Area 5, which polices New York City public housing developments. There are more than 400,000 people on low or moderate incomes who live in public housing throughout the city.
SUNDAY 11 A.M. - Strauss-Kahn's wife, French television personality Anne Sinclair, said in a statement: 'I do not believe for a single second the accusations levelled against my husband ... I do not doubt his innocence will be established.'
SUNDAY 1 P.M. - Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, Brafman and William Taylor, spent half an hour with their client. Brafman again said Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty.
SUNDAY 2 P.M. - Sofitel New York manager Jorge Tito said in a statement sent by property owner Accor in Paris that the maid who made the allegations had worked for the hotel for three years and was 'completely satisfactory in terms of her work and behavior.'
SUNDAY AFTERNOON - Strauss-Kahn was due to be moved from the Special Victims Unit to the Manhattan Criminal Court, where he was to be arraigned.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Edith Honan and Basil Katz; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
((For more on the Strauss-Kahn case, click on )) Keywords: STRAUSSKAHN/TIMELINE (michelle.nichols@reuters.com; +1 646 223 6117; Reuters Messaging: michelle.nichols.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Here is a timeline of events:
FRIDAY AFTERNOON - Strauss-Kahn checked into a $3,000 a night suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan. The suite has a foyer, a conference room, a living room and a bedroom. The 30-storey hotel has an Art Deco restaurant and bar called Gaby, which the website (www.sofitel.com) says serves 'French flair in a glamorous setting.'
The hotel is near Times Square, Broadway theaters, Fifth Avenue shopping and Central Park.
SATURDAY ABOUT 1:30 P.M. EDT (1730 GMT) - A 32-year-old maid entered Strauss-Kahn's suite, room 2806, which she apparently thought was unoccupied.
'She told detectives he came out of the bathroom naked, ran down a hallway to the foyer where she was, pulled her into a bedroom and began to sexually assault her,' New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesman Paul Browne said.
'She pulled away from him and he dragged her down a hallway into the bathroom where he engaged in a criminal sexual act, according to her account to detectives. He tried to lock her into the hotel room.'
The woman fled and reported the incident. Strauss-Kahn left the hotel, leaving behind his mobile phone.
Emergency medical responders were called to the hotel and took the woman to a hospital where she was treated and released.
SATURDAY 4 P.M. - Strauss-Kahn boarded Air France flight 23 for Paris at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and was seated in the first class section. He had been due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Europe on Sunday and attend meetings on the region's debt crisis on Monday.
SATURDAY 4:40 P.M. - Police from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the bridges, tunnels and airports in the area, boarded the flight minutes before it was due to depart and detained Strauss-Kahn. He was not handcuffed.
The Port Authority police turned him over to NYPD detectives from the Midtown South Precinct, which covers the area of Manhattan where the Sofitel hotel is located. They handcuffed him.
Strauss-Kahn made no statements and requested a lawyer. He was taken to the NYPD's Special Victims Unit in the Harlem neighborhood, where he was kept in a nondescript holding cell by himself. The Special Victims Unit investigates sex crimes.
SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING, TIME UNKNOWN - The consul general of France met with Strauss-Kahn under the regular rules of consular protection for all French citizens detained abroad, said Marie-Laure Charrier, a spokeswoman for the French consulate in New York.
SUNDAY 1:15 A.M. - Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Ben Brafman told Reuters in an email that the IMF chief will plead not guilty.
Brafman is a high-profile criminal lawyer who was part of Michael Jackson's legal team that successfully defended the pop singer against child molestation charges in 2005. Brafman also won an acquittal on weapons and bribery charges for rap mogul Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.
SUNDAY 2:15 A.M. - Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.
He spent the night in the holding cell at the Special Victims Unit, which is on the second floor of a red brick and concrete building.
The building is also home to Police Service Area 5, which polices New York City public housing developments. There are more than 400,000 people on low or moderate incomes who live in public housing throughout the city.
SUNDAY 11 A.M. - Strauss-Kahn's wife, French television personality Anne Sinclair, said in a statement: 'I do not believe for a single second the accusations levelled against my husband ... I do not doubt his innocence will be established.'
SUNDAY 1 P.M. - Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, Brafman and William Taylor, spent half an hour with their client. Brafman again said Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty.
SUNDAY 2 P.M. - Sofitel New York manager Jorge Tito said in a statement sent by property owner Accor in Paris that the maid who made the allegations had worked for the hotel for three years and was 'completely satisfactory in terms of her work and behavior.'
SUNDAY AFTERNOON - Strauss-Kahn was due to be moved from the Special Victims Unit to the Manhattan Criminal Court, where he was to be arraigned.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Edith Honan and Basil Katz; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
((For more on the Strauss-Kahn case, click on )) Keywords: STRAUSSKAHN/TIMELINE (michelle.nichols@reuters.com; +1 646 223 6117; Reuters Messaging: michelle.nichols.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.