Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF
Sentiment in regional markets was dimmed by Wall Street's drop on Friday amid heightened worries over Greece's debt crisis. The arrest over the weekend of IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York for the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid added to the uncertainty. REUTERS

Two minutes before IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s France-bound airplane was set to take off on Saturday at the Kennedy International Airport, he was pulled off by Port Authority personnel, reported the New York Post.

He was apprehended in connection to a sexual assault of a hotel housekeeper. Strauss-Kahn hasn’t been formally charged but he is in the custody of the New York Police Department.

According to the account reported by the New York Post, a housekeeper entered the IMF chief’s hotel room at the Sofitel and was then “jump[ed]” by a naked Strauss-Kahn. He then threw her to the bed and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.

The New York Times simply said it was a “brutal attack of a woman employee at the hotel Sofitel.”

The New York Post reported that some sources said Strauss-Kahn tried to flee the US to France, although “he had a meeting planned for Sunday with German chancellor Angela Merkel.”

The New York Times International Monetary Fund