Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was today freed from house arrest and the sexual assault charges against him by a hotel maid appeared to be crumbling after prosecutors acknowledged flaws in her version.
In a brief hearing at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, prosecutors did not oppose the release of 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as IMF chief in May following his arrest on the
sexual assault charges. The judge then freed him.
Strauss-Kahn, considered a strong contender for the French Presidency before his arrest, was bundled out of a Paris-bound flight and taken into custody on charges of sexual assault by the 32-year-old chambermaid, who went to clean his $3,000 suite in New York's Sofitel hotel in May.
Prosecutors, who had earlier contended that there was enough evidence to nail Strauss-Kahn, on Friday admitted before Justice Michael J Obus that the case was not as strong as suggested earlier.