IMF Chief to Force Maid to Perform Oral Sex

When he was approached in the first-class cabin on the plane by authorities, he said: 'What is this about?' and was taken off the aircraft without handcuffs, law-enforcement sources said.

He left his mobile phone and other personal items in his hotel room, police told the New York Post. A police spokesman added that Strauss-Kahn appeared to have fled the hotel after the incident. 'It looked like he got out of there in a hurry,' he said.

It was not clear why Strauss-Kahn was in New York. The IMF is based in Washington D.C. and he was due in Germany on Sunday. Strauss-Kahn was taken to the offices of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which deals with sex-related crimes and was being questioned by detectives last night.

The maid was taken by police to a local hospital. She told police she was asked to clean the spacious $3,000-a-night suite, which she was told was empty.

She then alleges Strauss-Kahn emerged naked from a bathroom, chased her down a hallway, pulled her into a bedroom and began sexually assaulting her, at one point attempting to force her to perform oral sex.

'The housekeeper went into the room and Mr Strauss-Kahn emerged from bathroom naked,' an NYPD spokesman said.

'He grabbed the woman and pulled her into the bedroom and locked the door and then attempted to sexually assault her.

'She managed to get free but he pulled her back, pulled off her trousers and sexually assaulted her.

'The woman managed again to get away and out the door and went to security and told the what happened.

'Mr Strauss-Kahn checked out a short while after that'.