Dominique Strauss-Kahn is granted bail

[Akoto]

Source: MSNBC

Breaking on MSNBC. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief accused of rape, has been granted bail.

Must post $1m bail, $5m insurance bond, surrender all travel documents, and has an armed guard posted at his door.

Read more: None Yet

---

If I had money, I'd be betting on how long it takes him to find a way of fleeing the country.

[provis99]

1. he'll be out of the country by Saturday.

toasting American stupidity with Polanski and Einhorn.

[glowing]

2. No, he will be "dead" by the end of the weekend.. sent to the land of ken lay

[valerief]

8. Pretend dead or real dead? nt

[truebrit71]

3. Did you miss the "surrender his travel docs" part? They call those "passports"...

...good luck getting onto an international flight without one...

Seriously people..>READ the fucking words first, yes???

[Demonaut]

5. does he need those for travel to Canada or Mexico?

if not then he'll probably leave out of one the "back doors"

[DavidDvorkin]

14. I think you do, now.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

17. You're correct. I believe you have since 2009

I know you do need one now, however.

[Jazzgirl]

26. Yes you do need a passport in Canada and Mexico.

You have for a few years now.

[valerief]

9. Can't he fly his own jet? nt

[BobbyBoring]

19. Sure

If you want to risk being shot down!

[KansDem]

10. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't have a passport...

On Christmas Day 2009, Abdulmutallab traveled from Ghana to Amsterdam, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route to Detroit. He had purchased his ticket with cash in Ghana on December 16.<114> Eyewitnesses Kurt Haskell and Lori Haskell recounted live on CNN that, prior to boarding the plane, they witnessed a "smartly dressed Indian man" who spoke "in an American accent" helping Abdulmutallab onto the plane.<115><116><117><118> They also testify that the ticket agent refused to allow Abdulmutallab on the plane because he did not have his own passport.<119> These circumstances underlie some of the passengers' speculations that the U.S. government supplied a defective device to the perpetrator and a man in a tan suit with an American accent intervened, the matter was referred to a manager, and Abdulmutallab was then able to board the plane, presumably still without a passport.<120> Such a defense and counterclaim will unlikely be played in Court as long as Abdulmutallab insists on undertaking his own defense, which some take as yet a further suggestion that Abdulmutallab is subject to manipulation.

--more--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab

...and he didn't have oodles of money!

[truebrit71]

13. Was he flying FROM the US?

No. He wasn't.

[yellowcanine]

15. Commercial airline yes. Private plane, no. He can afford to hire a private plane.

He can get false travel documents. He can leave the country on a private yacht. Actually getting out of the country without proper travel documents is relatively easy. Getting into another country would be more difficult but it is likely he could get in somewhere by bribing the right people and lying low for a while until he could get some duplicate documents.

[Nay]

23. He could take a private jet straight to France and apply for another passport.

And I bet $100 he does just that.

[alcibiades_mystery]

28. I'll take that bet

$100 DU donation if he skips bail.

You in?

[joshcryer]

35. They'd have to subdue the armed guards and remove the ankle bracelet.

Anyone involved would be liable for jail time.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. The 'travel doc' words were added in the edit, after reply #1 (nt)

[former9thward]

21. Don't need those for private flights.

[Zorra]

31. He could easily travel into Mexico by car without a passport.

They rarely check you if you are traveling by car from the US into Mexico.

I go down there a lot, I have a house down there.

I have never been asked for my passport at any border entering Mexico.

I always get checked at the border upon returning to the US.

Once you are in Mexico, you can disappear...if you are lucky and have lots of money.

[CTyankee]

12. hmm, no travel documents, armed guard.

It would be a huge problem for France if they lifted a finger to help this guy out at this point. Fleeing JFK on an Air France flight would have been one thing, but getting out at this point would be supremely problematic IMHO. The wheels of justice are turning and even tho the French are squawking, I doubt that France needs an international incident like what this would cause if DSK was suddenly gone and then photographed strolling on the Rue de la Paix...

[joshcryer]

34. He has 24/7 armed guards. He ain't going anywhere.

[BeyondGeography]

42. How?

[KansDem]

4. Adios.

Now, if you were caught with an once of weed and penniless...

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Hell, they probably let him out to make ROOM for a pot smoker.

Priorities!!!!!! :woohoo:

[Hardrada]

40. Good Point!

[JuniperLea]

7. Maybe Roman Polanski will share his chalet...

They can trade war stories.

[pnwmom]

11. The good part about his little stay in Rikers --

no matter what happens now or in a trial, DSK has already had a shock to his lecherous little system. If he does manage to get off - which is still entirely possible -- maybe he'll think twice before doing something like this again.

[joshcryer]

36. Doubtful, getting off would only empower him to do it more.

[yellowcanine]

16. If he jumps bail will they send Dog the Bounty Hunter after him?

Duane "Dog" Chapman


Now I would watch that show.

[customerserviceguy]

25. If Hulk Hogan and Fabio could have a child, it would look like Dog the Bounty Hunter n/t

[mn9driver]

20. Too bad. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't find a way out.

$1 million or $5 million probably isn't of much consequence to him compared to a lengthy jail term.

[joshcryer]

37. The likely route he'll take is a private payoff with the victim.

If the victim changes her story mid-way through the prosecution, then you know what happened.

But the prosecutors have more than witness testimony to go on and he'll still likely get something.

Assuming that happens.

[Corruption Winz]

22. So, he has millions at his disposal...

And he has a guard stopping him of getting away? Sure-fire plan.

[blackdem76]

24. Rich, famous and white--that's who gets the breaks. n/t

[joshcryer]

39. It'd be amusing if we could create a non-profit of "armed guards" and see if judges allow...

...us to let common criminals stay at home under "armed guard" while they await trial.

I would bet money that no judge on the planet would sign off on that even if it was completely and totally legit.

So yeah, I agree with you, rich white men do get all the breaks.

[alp227]

27. I think Obama should've re-opened Guantanamo just for DSK.

Or have Blackwater be the armed guards. The Guardian ("Dominique Strauss-Kahn bailed over sexual assault allegations"): "Judge Michael Obus set bail terms of $1m in cash as well as $5m in an insurance bond set against the international politician's properties in the US. He also demanded that Strauss-Kahn surrender all his travel documents and that he remain under house arrest in Manhattan under 24-hour armed guard," and "the grand jury of 23 members...has voted for an indictment to proceed against him." He also has an ankle bracelet: "Stringent conditions would include an electronic bracelet that would send a signal to the company and a police station the moment Strauss-Kahn left the property, video cameras to monitor him inside the property, and a 24-hour rotation of armed guards who would be physically present at the apartment." He'll be living in a Manhattan apartment owned by his American-born wife Anne Sinclair.

[cliss]

29. Let's see ~ old rich white guy, the head of the

IMF, probably has $1 billion in a Swiss bank account. Also, he has a guard that's on HIS payroll. Uh-huh.

There's just the matter of a small ankle bracelet, and he's free! How hard can it be wiggle out of that? with a little olive oil from the kitchen, and voila he's a free man.

And no, someone like that doesn't need a passport.

[reorg]

32. and where would he get that kind of money?

Such posts at international institutions are rewards for senior, reliable politicians who are not needed or wanted any longer within the national political scene. They come with relatively high salaries, compared to political positions at national level, half a million dollars per year in this case. But these salaries are nowhere near and don't get you near to what the super rich have. One billion? I don't think so. Every major movie star in Hollywood has probably more money than Mr Strauss-Kahn, not to mention the big bonuses of Wall Street bankers.

[joshcryer]

38. He makes almost 500k tax free every year, so yeah, he's not a billionare.

Here's a good article about it: http://www.mogulite.com/imf-dominique-strauss-kahn-attack/

[w4rma]

30. That's a lot of money to give up to leave the nation, plus the political mayham created by it.

Let it play out before making assumptions.

[CTyankee]

33. Political mayhem is right. Don't people understand that France is one of our U.S. partners

and allies? We don't just abandon our ties blithely. I think we have ties to France that would be severely frayed if France aided in any way a rescue mission. And any "private" mission would be pretty suspect. Think of the international repercussions if France intervened in any way...come on, folks...

[daleo]

41. He resigned from the IMF, so this is probably all over

Call me cynical.