Report: Strauss-Kahn drops political hopes

NEW YORK, July 11 (UPI) -- Even if sexual assault charges against him are dropped, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not run for president of France next year, an associate says.

Mediaite.com Monday quoted a source close to the former International Monetary Fund chief saying, "DSK is telling friends that media speculation that he might run is simply absurd. Of course he is pleased that despite the recent headlines, the media is suddenly declaring him a viable candidate, but he knows in the real world that is just not the case."

The case began unraveling two weeks ago when questions were raised about Strauss-Kahn's accuser, a New York hotel maid, and her alleged ties to criminals.

The head of the Sofitel hotel chain's security is denying that he plotted with Strauss-Kahn's political enemies to entrap him.

Some in France have accused President Nicolas Sarkozy of setting up his top rival for re-election.

"To think that we would have, from Paris, influenced New York city's police, it's madness!" Rene-Georges Querry of the Accor firm told the French weekly Journal de Dimanche.

The weekly also reported the Guinean hotel maid, whom Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting, was placed in her job with the help of the International Rescue Committee, which aids refugees.

On Sunday, New York politicians and women's and ethnic groups pressed Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. to go ahead with prosecution and give the accuser her day in court.