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YOU Will Be Paying Dominique Strauss-Kahn's Severance
By
Jen Chung
Published May 25, 2011
Modified May 25, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 25, 2011
Modified May 25, 2011
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Various American lawmakers are making the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair into a bigger international incident because now they are pissed that the alleged sexual assaulter of a Times Square hotel maid is getting a $250,000 severance from the International Monetary Fund. Because that severance is partly paid by you, the American taxpayer.
Strauss-Kahn is accused of trying to rape and force a maid at the Sofitel to perform oral sex on him. He was paid $500,000 annually as the head of the IMF and was considered to be a leading candidate to challenge French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the presidency next year. Fox News got a statement from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash), "The scandal at the IMF is putting that organization in the public eye again and American taxpayers—who pay the largest share of the IMF's bills—are raising a lot of important questions... What does it say about the IMF that its managing director has a higher annual salary than the president of the United States, that he stays at $3,000-per-night hotel rooms, and that he gets a quarter of a million dollars in severance pay while awaiting charges for [attempted] rape?"
The 62-year-old made $500,000 in salary and expenses as the head of the IMF. A spokesman for Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-California), who sits on the House Appropriation Committee, also told Fox News, "He definitely wants to look at whether or not something can be done. If not now, certainly in the future," adding, "The IMF isn't doing what it's really supposed to be doing ... creating economic opportunity in undeveloped countries."
In the meantime, as rumors swirl that Strauss-Kahn's connected friends are trying to pay off his accuser through her impoverished relatives in Africa, the relatives told Reuters, "In our family, we are above material things. Even if you are a billionaire, we don't care. The most important thing for us is how you follow God's path."
Strauss-Kahn is out on $6 million bail ($1 million cash, $5 million bond) and is currently residing at 71 Broadway, which has turned the neighborhood into a media circus. While his wealthy wife has been looking for another residence for him, it's been difficult—real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller thinks if Strauss-Kahn goes anywhere, it'll be a private townhouse.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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