Strauss-Kahn Case in Jeopardy: Accuser Apparently Made False Claims

The chambermaid who accused former IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in a luxury Manhattan hotel once admitted to fabricating an account of being gang-raped by soldiers in Guinea, calling into question her credibility.

During grand jury testimony, the accused claimed she was fearful after the alleged attack by Strauss-Kahn -- but evidence from prosecutors contends she cleaned two suites including the scene of the alleged crime, court papers said.

The complainant has since admitted that this account was false and that after the incident in Suite 2806, she proceeded to clean a nearby room and then returned to Suite 2806 and began to clean that suite before she reported the incident to her supervisors,” according to a document sent from prosecutors to Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys.

The woman told prosecutors she memorized a fabricated recording of a brutal attack on her home by soldiers in Guinea as part of her application for asylum, and said her husband had been brutally beaten.

She repeated these facts orally during the course of her asylum application process, wrote Joan Illuzzi-Orbon and Artie McConnell, the assistant district attorneys prosecuting the case.

Kenneth Thompson, an attorney for the accuser, said his client “was the victim of female genital mutilation and didn’t want the same thing to happen to her daughter. ... She didn’t know that FGM is grounds alone for asylum.”

Prosecutors however, said as she recounted the false story she appeared to “be markedly distraught.”

The accuser has apparently lied on her tax documents, claiming she had a false second child.

The Bronx woman has also lied about a variety of additional topics concerning her history, background, present circumstances and personal relationships,” prosecutors contend.

In subsequent interviews, she admitted that the gang rape had never occurred. Instead, she stated that she had lied about its occurrence and fabricated the details, and that this false incident was part of the narrative that she had been directed to memorize as part of her asylum application process, prosecutors wrote.

The letter comes as an attorney for the victims says she was mistreated by prosecutors questioning her regarding the case.

Prosecutors allegedly screamed and yelled at the woman to “Get out! Get out of here! Leave,” Thompson said.

Strauss-Kahn was released Friday after serious questions were raised about the credibility of the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

Investigators in the Manhattan District Attorney's office have discovered significant inconsistencies with the account of the chambermaid who claimed Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in a luxury hotel room in May, sources said Thursday.

Revelations the accuser allegedly considered financial gain and engaged in relationships categorized as questionable with a drug dealer prompted Manhattan prosecutors to inform his lawyers and submit to a bail modification hearing Friday, court sources said.