(
)
They knew she was lying — but the bosses didn’t want to hear it.
Two top sex-crimes specialists on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case had serious doubts about his accuser’s credibility almost from the moment she reported an attack — but they were booted from the investigation because of office politics.
Lisa Friel, then chief of the Manhattan DA’s Sex Crimes Unit, and a senior investigator with the unit were tossed off the case after an internal battle over how to proceed, and less-experienced replacements ignored their concerns in a rush to present evidence to a grand jury, said multiple sources familiar with the rift.
Friel, who plans to step down on Sept. 1, had grown concerned about discrepancies in the maid’s accounts of the alleged sex attack and got into a shouting match with prosecutor Ann Prunty, who is not part of the unit but was named to the “second chair” at the prosecutor’s table.
Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, a respected prosecutor with little sex-crime experience, was added to the team and eventually took over.
Spurred by Chief Assistant DA Dan Alonso, that team focused on digging up dirt on DSK, sources said.
“It was Dan Alonso pushing hard for the grand jury,” one insider said. “Friel was told to stand aside.”