Friends of alleged hotel sex fiend Dominique Strauss-Kahn secretly contacted the accusing maid’s impoverished family, offering them money to make the case go away since they can’t reach her in protective custody, The Post has learned.
The woman, who says she was sexually assaulted by the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, has an extended family in the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa, well out of reach of the Manhattan DA’s Office.
“They already talked with her family,” a French businesswoman with close ties to Strauss-Kahn and his family told The Post. “For sure, it’s going to end up on a quiet note.”
Prosecutors in Manhattan have done their best to keep the cleaning woman out of the reach of Strauss-Kahn’s supporters, but the source was already predicting success for the Parisian pol’s pals.
“He’ll get out of it and will fly back to France. He won’t spend time in jail. The woman will get a lot of money,” said the source, adding that a seven-figure sum has been bandied about.
While the DA’s office has sequestered the maid — and is even monitoring her phone calls — her extended family lives in a village that lacks paved roads, electricity and phone lines.
The average monthly income is $45, which is near-starvation, and some of her family members can’t even afford shoes.
They live so off-the-grid in a remote village that they didn’t know the maid was allegedly nearly raped until reporters trekked to the village to inform them.
The alleged victim, who lives with her 15-year-old daughter in The Bronx, came to the United States from Guinea several years ago after her husband died. She has received some financial help from her sister and brother-in-law living in New York.
The family of the Guinean woman who says the former International Monetary Fund chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, tried to rape her in a New York hotel, in their home village of Tchiakoulle. (AFP/Getty Images)
HARD LIFE:Extended family members of the woman allegedly assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn live in this home in a remote village in Guinea in West Africa. (Photos: AFP)
HARD LIFE: Extended family members of the woman allegedly assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn live in this home (inset) in a remote village in Guinea in West Africa.
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The DA’s office has warned local family members not to accept calls from associates of Strauss-Kahn. Even without the maid’s testimony, however, prosecutors claim they have plenty of damning evidence to prosecute Strauss-Kahn, including her videotaped statement, grand-jury testimony, statements from fellow hotel employees and semen samples found on the hotel room carpet.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, remains under house arrest in a pricey lower Manhattan pad secured by his billionaire wife, Anne Sinclair. He must wear a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet and have armed guards to prevent him from escaping.
Meanwhile, in another development yesterday, it emerged that Strauss-Kahn allegedly shouted, “Do you know who I am?” as he assaulted the victim, according to a new report.
“Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know who I am?” Strauss- Kahn repeatedly inquired during the incident, according to Fox News.
“Please, please stop. No!” she cried as he pinned her to the bed, law-enforcement sources said. “Please stop. I need my job, I can’t lose my job, don’t do this. I will lose my job. Please, please stop!”
In a heartless reply, Strauss-Kahn, allegedly told her, “No, baby. Don’t worry, you’re not going to lose your job,” sources said, adding that he again repeated, “Don’t you know who I am?”
While she begged him to stop, he allegedly pressed the attack, dragging her down the hall and forcing her to perform oral sex.
The maid finally escaped by pushing him into a piece of furniture in the $3,000-a-night Sofitel suite, she said. Sources said that the Frenchman has a gash on his back where he hit the armoire and that blood was found on the sheets.
Investigators also confirmed a DNA match between Strauss-Kahn and a semen sample found on the maid’s shirt.
Meanwhile, Strauss-Kahn faces a deadline this morning to vacate the apartment at 71 Broadway where he’s been under house arrest since he was sprung from Rikers on Friday.
He is now hunting for a townhouse so he doesn’t have to deal with belligerent co-op and condo boards, and has a $50,000 monthly budget, sources said.
“He has been calling around, but no broker wants to work with him,” a top broker said. “He wants to find a broker who will help secure a place for him with more privacy so he won’t be harassed, and he is not particular about the neighborhood.”
Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett, Helen Freund, Hannah Rappleye, Jennifer Gould Keil, Larry Celona, Jamie Schram and Post Wire Services