Imf chief which hotel

The maid was taken by police to an area hospital. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was co-operating with the authorities in the investigation. Strauss-Kahn, 62, was briefly investigated in over whether he had an improper relationship with a subordinate female employee.

The IMF board found his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected a serious error of judgment. The allegation will be a major embarrassment to the straight-laced IMF, which has billions of dollars in lending programs to troubled countries and plays a major role in the euro zone debt crisis.

The IMF managing director has yet to say whether he will run for president, although French opinion polls put him as a clear winner over conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy if the two faced off in an election. They held the plane and he was taken off and is now being held in police custody for questioning.

But the charges against Strauss-Kahn are a huge embarrassment for an institution that oversees the global economic system and has authorized hundreds of billions of dollars of lending to troubled countries as well as playing a major role in the euro-zone debt crisis. He had not yet declared his candidacy but Strauss-Kahn was widely expected to run for the Socialist Party and early opinion polls showed him with a big lead over the conservative incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is seeking a second term at the election next April.

If the facts prove true Many politicians have fallen after being caught in extra-marital affairs and others have survived them, including former presidents John F. But rarely have senior figures faced brutal assault charges like those filed against Strauss-Kahn. With Strauss-Kahn in the dock, the IMF also now faces many questions of its own, because his character had been questioned before. It will now face new scrutiny over whether that response was too weak, especially as there have been persistent rumors about Strauss-Kahn making sexual advances to women.

An economics professor and former French finance minister, Strauss-Kahn took over the IMF in November for a five-year term, and won praise for helping galvanize leaders to inject billions of dollars into the world economy during the global financial crisis. She says Strauss-Kahn attacked her on 14 May as she attempted to clean his room. Diallo alleges that Strauss-Kahn ran at her naked, molested her and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

The claims led to a criminal investigation against the IMF boss last year, and to his house arrest in Manhattan. But charges of attempted rape, sex abuse, forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment were eventually dropped, with prosecutors citing "substantial credibility issues" with Diallo.

Despite the collapse of a criminal investigation, Diallo continued to pursue Strauss-Kahn through the civil courts, leading to a counter defamation suit by the former IMF head.

At first, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers tried to claim that their client had diplomatic immunity him from being sued. But that failed, with the courts dismissing his claims of protection. A settlement in the case was widely expected ahead of Monday's hearing.