In May 2011, detectives of the NYPD Special Victims Division arrested then IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) on charges of criminal sexual assault, attempted rape, and unlawful imprisonment. To say his arrest was sensational would be an understatement; after all, they literally boarded his plane and cuffed DSK as he was departing/fleeing from New York for France.
A Black chambermaid at a luxury NYC hotel had filed a complaint. She claimed that, upon entering his room to perform her duties, a naked DSK attacked her, fondled her, and forced her to perform oral sex.
Instead of prosecuting him, however, the New York prosecutor persecuted DSK for being a lecherous old fool.
Here, in part, is how I presaged the fallout:
He might well win his freedom and return as a national hero to some in France — where the media are now portraying him not as an accused rapist, but as a victim of a crude American justice system. But DSK will never get his reputation back — especially because, no matter how his defense attorneys and political enablers spin it, there’s no denying the DNA that marks him as a sexual predator who tried to have his way with a lowly hotel maid.
Moreover, I can’t imagine the French ever countenancing a man with such boorish sexual proclivities becoming their president.
(“Judge Frees DSK from House Arrest,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 1, 2011)
Sure enough, far from fulfilling his political destiny, his now-notorious reputation preceded his return to France. Accordingly, he soon faced similar charges – for sexual liaisons that were once de rigueur within his social circle.
A French prosecutor has ordered an initial inquiry into claims that ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn was involved in ‘gang rape’ in Washington…
The allegations are said to have come to light from evidence given by a Belgian prostitute who told Belgian police that she was forced into certain acts of non-consensual sex while in Washington on 16 December 2010…
The initial charge of ‘aggravated pimping as part an organised gang’ carries a potential prison term of 20 years; a rape conviction can prompt a similar sentence.
(BBC, May 21, 2012)
Even though the French prosecutor actually prosecuted DSK, I am not surprised that the presiding judge found nothing criminal about DSK’s sexual proclivities.
On Friday, a judge in Lille acquitted Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the charge of aggravated pimping.
The 66-year-old former head of the IMF had denied claims he procured prostitutes to attend sex parties in France, Belgium and the US.
The man once tipped as a future president of France admitted being a swinger who enjoys group sex and said he attended about four ‘soirees libertines’ a year.
(BBC, June 12, 2015)
A politically correct Lady Justice might deem this judge’s verdict an injustice. But his verdict vindicates all that is liberal, libertine, and libertarian about long-established Gallic attitudes towards sex. And, yes, as a liberal, (reformed) libertine, and libertarian myself, I couldn’t agree more with his verdict.
So here’s to sex in France still being “not judicially punishable,” leaving DSK free to have his way with (consenting) women … if the price is right.
Related commentaries:
Judge frees DSK…