Chicago Sun-Times
By Jennifer Peltz and Tom Hays
NEW YORK — A judge agreed Thursday to free former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn from a New York City jail on the condition that he post $1 million in bail and remain under house arrest, under the watch of armed guards, at a private apartment in Manhattan.
The 62-year-old banker and diplomat wore an expression of relief after Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Obus announced his decision in a packed Manhattan courtroom. Later, he blew a kiss toward his wife.
The ruling didn’t free Strauss-Kahn immediately. Authorities need time to review and approve the security arrangements involved in his home detention, which lawyers said would be at an apartment rented by his wife. They did not disclose the location of the home.
Strauss-Kahn will also have to take out a $5 million insurance bond. It’s not believed the wealthy banker will have any problem meeting the financial conditions of his release from the bleak Rikers Island jail complex on an island in the East River.
“He’s going back to Rikers tonight and we expect him to be released tomorrow,” William Taylor, one of his attorneys, said Thursday.
His political career in shambles and his leadership of the IMF a memory, Strauss-Kahn was formally indicted at Thursday’s hearing on charges that he sexually abused a maid at a Manhattan hotel.
Prosecutors had opposed his release at his first bail hearing Monday, saying his wealth and international connections would make it easy for him to flee.
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