The NYPD is investigating the mysterious death of a French scholar found dead today in a Midtown hotel room, The Post has learned.
The nude body of Richard Descoings, the 54-year-old director of the prestigious Institute of Political Studies in Paris and a member of France’s Council of State, was discovered around 1 p.m. by staffers at the Michelangelo Hotel on West 51st Street, said police spokesman Paul Browne.
Although the room was initially found in disarray, it was later determined that EMS workers had made the mess pulling Descoings from his bed and trying to revive him, Browne added.
“There is no criminality at this time and no obvious signs of trauma. We are awaiting the medical examiner’s determination for the cause of death,” Browne said.
A law enforcement source said that empty booze bottles and antidepressants were also in the room.
“We are looking at the possibility of another person having been in room with him at some point,” said another source.
Descoings, who is married, was in town to attend a conference at Columbia University, but never showed in the lobby to leave for the school with colleagues.
At first, his friends thought he had gone ahead of them, or had perhaps overslept.
Hotel staff went to his room at around 9 a.m., and could hear him sleeping, Browne said.
However, four hours later, when Descoings still didn’t show at the seminar, workers staff visited his room a second time and opened the door.
That’s when they discovered his dead body.
“We are deeply saddened by the sudden death of our colleague Richard Descoings, the Director of Sciences Po, one of the world’s top universities. He was a global leader on education policy, recognized and honored both in France and around the world for his contributions to research and policy. He focused much of his energy on expanding access to the university,” read a joint statement released by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger.
This is the second high-profile investigation in a year that the NYPD has headed into a French bigwig.
Police last year busted Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, on allegations that he sexually assaulted maid Nafissatou Diallo at the Sofitel Hotel. The charges were later dropped.
He was then accused of raping writer Tristane Banon in France in 2003.
Although prosecutors found evidence of a sexual assault, they ruled that the statute of limitations had passed.
Recently, allegations have linked Strauss-Kahn to a prostitution ring in northern France.
In an interesting twist, Strauss-Kahn was once a professor at the institute which Descoings headed.
His wife, Anne Sinclair, is president of the US Sciences Po Foundation’s board of directors. Descoings’ wife, Nadia Marik, is a director in charge of partnerships and business development.