IMF Head Charged in Hotel Sex Attack

IMF chief/would-be French presidential contender Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and unlawful imprisonment today following yesterday's alleged attack on a maid in the $3,000-a-night NYC hotel suite Strauss-Kahn had been staying in. An NYPD rep says the 32-year-old maid "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."

"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," said the rep. Strauss-Kahn "will plead not guilty," one of his lawyers told Reuters. Strauss-Kahn—who has polled ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy—is finished, says presidential rival Marine Le Pen: "The case and the charges ... mark the end of his campaign and pre-campaign for the presidency and will most likely prompt the IMF to ask him to leave his post." Click to read more about Strauss-Kahn. (More Dominique Strauss Kahn stories.)