More potentially damaging details emerged Saturday about the hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault.
A law enforcement official says soon after the incident, the maid spoke of possibly making money off of it in a recorded telephone conversation with her boyfriend, who was jailed at the time on a drug possession charge.
The New York Times quotes the official as saying the maid told her boyfriend that Strauss-Kahn has a lot of money, and that she knows what she is doing.
The developments follow Strauss-Kahn's release from house arrest Friday, after prosecutors raised questions about the credibility of the accuser. A New York City judge agreed to return his bail and lift some pre-trial restrictions on his movements.
In a letter Friday to his lawyers, prosecutors said the 32-year-old maid had changed details about what she did immediately after the alleged attack by Strauss-Kahn. They also said she lied about being gang-raped in Guinea, her native country, as part of an application for U.S. asylum.
The New York Times has reported she also may have links to criminal activities such as drug dealing and money laundering.
Strauss-Kahn, a veteran French politician, was arrested in May on charges he attacked the maid, who came to clean his suite at a luxury New York City hotel. The arrest prompted his resignation from the IMF.
Despite his release Friday from house arrest, the prosecution said it is not yet moving to dismiss sexual assault and attempted rape charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The maid's attorney has insisted her case still stands, saying she has consistently described a “violent sexual assault” that Strauss-Kahn committed against her and has not changed her story about that encounter.
The next court date is set for July 18.
Before his arrest, Strauss-Kahn was considered a top contender to run as the Socialist Party candidate against French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the country's 2012 presidential election. Former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde was recently chosen to succeed him at the IMF.
