New luxury home for ex-IMF chief

NEW YORK—From the outside, it looks like a pretty good place to await trial.

From a temporary space in the luxury Empire Building at No. 71 Broadway, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn moved late Wednesday to a plush town house, which has everything from a state-of-the-art theater to waterfall showers, in one of Manhattan’s trendiest districts.

There, at a four-bedroom town house at 153 Franklin St. in Tribeca, Strauss-Kahn will remain under house arrest as he awaits trial on charges he tried to rape a 32-year-old hotel maid.

The red brick town house, which features the finest materials and craftsmanship, rents for a cool $50,000 a month or, for those looking to settle, is on the market for $13,995,000.

Despite the jetted tubs and steam showers, gym, oversized skylight and fireplace, however, Strauss-Kahn remains a prisoner, his every movement monitored electronically through a GPS device that he must wear. Armed guards and cameras watch him around the clock.

He will be allowed out for court appearances, doctor’s visits and religious services. But prosecutors must be notified at least six hours before he goes anywhere, and he can’t be out between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Under the terms of his house arrest, he may receive up to four visitors at a time besides members of his family.

Security is being managed by Stroz Friedberg, the same company that handled the house arrest for disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. The security setup is expected to cost Strauss-Kahn about $200,000 a month.

Under heavy guard, the one-time French presidential contender was smiling as he left the Empire Building near Wall Street on Wednesday evening and got into a gray SUV for the short trip to Tribeca, about 1.6 kilometers away.

The town house, which has five bathrooms, is on a cobblestone street and is close to the courthouse where Strauss-Kahn will attend hearings. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 6.

According to a person familiar with the house, potted plants and a gas grill grace the large terrace. For privacy, there are Japanese paper walls.

An ultramodern staircase leads to the main bedroom with a leopard print rug over a low double bed.

‘Doing fine’

Defense lawyer William Taylor told reporters that his client was “doing fine” under house arrest. “Not much he can do,” he said.

Strauss-Kahn was placed under house arrest on a $6-million cash and bond bail after prosecutors expressed fears he might flee given his international status and wealth.

He spent about a week in jail at the notorious Rikers Island jail after his arrest on May 14 when a chambermaid accused him of sexually assaulting her inside his suite at the Sofitel hotel near Manhattan’s Times Square.

Bail plans hit a snag late last week when tenants at an Upper East Side apartment building initially secured for his house arrest refused to accept Strauss-Kahn because of unwanted media attention.

He was briefly housed at the Empire Building, where members of the media had camped out, broadcasting as his wife, former journalist Anne Sinclair, entered and left the high rise.

Court officials confirmed that a new place for Strauss-Kahn’s detention was agreed upon on Wednesday.

‘No contact with woman’

Also on Wednesday, lawyers for Strauss-Kahn denied reports they had been in contact with the hotel maid or her relatives.

“Reports that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys or representatives are in contact with the complaining witness or her family are false,” Taylor and another defense lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said in a statement.

French and US media have been full of rumors about possible contacts between Strauss-Kahn’s defenders and the alleged victim.

A report in the New York Post this week said offers of payments were being made by Strauss-Kahn’s “friends” to the woman’s impoverished family in the West African country of Guinea.

The lawyers’ statement also repeated that they “believe that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be fully exonerated.”

Strauss-Kahn was pulled from a jetliner bound for Paris after the chambermaid reported the alleged sex assault on her to the Sofitel staff.

She told police she entered Strauss-Kahn’s suite around noon and he emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her before grabbing her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

Earlier this week, people familiar with the investigation said that evidence found on the woman’s work clothing matched Strauss-Kahn’s DNA.

It was the first forensic evidence linking Strauss-Kahn to the woman—and it’s also on track with what his lawyers have suggested would be his defense.

A week ago, Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the IMF, a powerful international institution that lends billions of dollars to troubled countries. Reports from AFP and AP