Tapes prove DSK maid was no ‘gold digger’

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's next court appearance on charges of sexual assault and attempted rape was delayed for three weeks by New York prosecutors.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was scheduled to appear in state court in Manhattan Aug. 1 on charges of assaulting a hotel maid. Strauss- Kahn, who is free as he awaits trial, has denied wrongdoing.

The court appearance was rescheduled for Aug. 23, said Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

"The investigation into this pending criminal case is continuing," Duggan said today in an e-mailed statement. "We will have no further comment."

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman, said in an e-mailed statement that they consented to Vance's request for a postponement.

"We hope that by Aug. 23 he will have reached the decision to dismiss," the defense attorneys said in their statement.

Kenneth P. Thompson, a former federal prosecutor who is representing the accuser, said today in a phone interview that she would "soon" file a civil lawsuit.

Tapes also established that Diallo recounted the attack to the man during their first conversation, showing that her focus was on what had happened to her, not on the former IMF chief’s wealth or stature, News.com.au quoted Thompson, as saying.

“Information has been put out there about Diallo that now I know was false. She never was scheming to take DSK''s money, and that's a fact,” Thompson said.

Diallo spent eight hours with prosecutors from the district attorney's office listening to and translating a phone recording, which had raised doubts about her credibility.

The newspaper has reported, citing an anonymous law enforcement official, that Diallo said, ‘Don't worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I'm doing,’ to her friend shortly after Strauss-Kahn's arrest.

But on the tapes, her mentions of Strauss-Kahn's resources and her knowing what to do are made at different points, and in contexts that cast them in a considerably different light, Thompson said.

The session marked the 32-year-old's first meeting with prosecutors since they said they had doubts about her credibility because she hadn't been truthful about her background or what she did right after the May 14 encounter.