It was good news/bad news on Thursday for Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The ex- Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund was indicted on seven counts stemming from his alleged assault of a hotel worker; but then he was granted bail of $1 million with a $5 million bond. He will remain under house arrest with a 24-hour armed guard and faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty of all charges against him.
As the Strauss-Kahn’s legal saga continues, here is a guide to a cast of characters who will no doubt be making multiple appearances:
Anne Sinclair: Born in New York, the former French television journalist has rented a Manhattan apartment for her husband while he is under house arrest awaiting trial. She married Strauss-Kahn in 1991 and has stood by him during previous indiscretions. “I don’t believe for a single second the accusations of sexual assault by my husband,” she said in a statement. “I am certain his innocence will be proved.”
Camille Strauss-Kahn: Strauss-Kahn’s daughter by a previous marriage arrived at her father’s indictment arm-and-arm with her stepmother, Anne Sinclair. Taking after her father — an alumnus of the elite Sciences Po in Paris, which trains France’s future politicians and bureaucrats — she is a graduate student in political science at Columbia University.
Benjamin Brafman: Strauss-Kahn’s criminal defense lawyer. Brafman got Sean “P. Diddy” Combs acquitted of weapons and bribery charges in 1999, but didn’t have as much luck with Plaxico Burress in 2009. He was also one of the many lawyers hired by Michael Jackson when he faced child molestation charges.
John “Artie” McDonnell: The assistant district attorney who has been assigned the case previously prosecuted the “Midtown Madam” Kristin Davis and Wilfredo Rosario, an NYPD cop convicted of on-the-job sex abuse. A graduate of George Washington University, he was admitted to the New York Bar in 2005.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.: District Attorney of New York since 2010, the former litigator and Yale and Georgetown Law graduate is the son of former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
Jeffrey Shapiro: a personal-injury lawyer representing the hotel worker, although she has not filed any civil case. “She does not have relatives here, she does not have family, she is extremely vulnerable here,” Shapiro has said. Shapiro is helping her out pro-bono.
The Hotel Worker: A single mother of a teenaged daughter who reportedly came to New York from Guinea seven years ago, she is currently under the protection of the D.A.’s office. According to a Sofitel manager, she had worked at the hotel for three years and was “completely satisfactory in terms of her work and behavior.”
See why Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a scandal waiting to happen.
See who’s next to run the IMF.
