Strauss-Kahn rape case hearing delayed again

NEW YORK — The court date in the attempted rape case of former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been postponed to August 23, his lawyers said on Tuesday, adding they hope charges will be dismissed by that date.

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It is the second such delay in the highly charged case.

"We have consented to a postponement of the status hearing before Judge Obus from August 1 to August 23," Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, Benjamin Brafman and William Taylor, said in a statement.

"We understand the District Attorney is continuing to investigate. We hope that by August 23, he will have reached the decision to dismiss," they wrote.

A spokeswoman for prosecutors, Erin Duggan, confirmed the postponement, adding only, "The investigation into this pending criminal case is continuing."

Strauss-Kahn, widely seen as a leading contender to be the next president of France before the case, has denied the allegations. The 62-year old was arrested on May 14 after Nafissatou Diallo, a 32-year-old Guinean maid at the upscale Sofitel hotel, accused him of sexual assault.

In recent weeks, speculation that prosecutors might dismiss the case has grown over concerns about Diallo's credibility.

After two months in protective custody, Diallo broke her silence on Sunday, giving interviews to Newsweek and ABC which have generated massive publicity in recent days.

She told Newsweek that a naked Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom when she entered his hotel suite, grabbed her breasts and forced her to give him oral sex.

"I want him to go to jail," Diallo told ABC news, adding he behaved like a "crazy man."

Some legal experts say that going public is a risky move, which could damage the prosecution's case and weaken the civil suit that Diallo's lawyers said she will file soon. But coming forward could also sway public opinion in Diallo's favor and put pressure on District Attorney Cyrus Vance to move forward with the case.

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Hotel maid: Strauss-Kahn like a 'crazy man'

NEW YORK — The New York hotel maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempting to rape her said in an interview published on Newsweek's website on Sunday that he appeared as a "crazy man" and attacked her when she entered his room.

Nafissatou Diallo also gave the newsmagazine and ABC News permission to identify her by name.

The magazine interview marks the first time the 32-year-old Guinean immigrant to the United States has publicly spoken to the media since she shocked the world with allegations that Strauss-Kahn emerged naked from the bathroom of his luxury suite on May 14 and forced her to perform oral sex.

Until now, Reuters had kept to the practice in the United States of protecting the identity of alleged rape victims.

"I want justice. I want him to go to jail," she said in excerpts from the television interview released on Sunday.

"I want him to know that there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like this," said Diallo, who Newsweek reported cannot read or write.

One of Diallo's attorneys, Douglas Wigdor, told Reuters she has come forward to let the world know she is not a "shakedown artist or a prostitute."

"She's being attacked ... and she thought it was important to put a name and face to her account," Wigdor said.

She also plans to file a civil lawsuit soon, which means her name would become public, he added.

'I have to tell the truth'
ABC reported Diallo also acknowledged "mistakes" but said that should not stop prosecutors from going forward.

"I never want to be in public but I have no choice," she told ABC News, adding "Now, I have to be in public. I have to, for myself. I have to tell the truth."

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Diallo, who Newsweek said had agreed to be photographed for next week's edition, said she saw Strauss-Kahn appear naked in front of her when she opened the door to his suite. He was like "a crazy man to me," she said.

"You're beautiful," she reported Strauss-Kahn as saying, and said he attacked her despite her protestations.

"I said, ‘Sir, stop this. I don’t want to lose my job,’” Newsweek reported Diallo as saying. “He said, ‘You’re not going to lose your job.’”

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has repeatedly denied all the charges against him. In a statement on Sunday, his lawyers called the interview a last-ditch effort by the maid and her lawyers to extract money from the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

She is "the first accuser in history to conduct a media campaign to persuade a prosecutor to pursue charges against a person from whom she wants money," lawyers Benjamin Brafman and William Taylor said.

"Her lawyers and public relations consultants have orchestrated an unprecedented number of media events and rallies to bring pressure on the prosecutors in this case after she had to admit her extraordinary efforts to mislead them."

Her credibility was thrown into question when Manhattan prosecutors revealed Diallo told authorities numerous lies, including fabricating a story about being gang-raped in Guinea in order to gain U.S. asylum. She also changed details of her story about what happened following the purported assault.

Wigdor said Diallo has worried that prosecutors would drop the charges. "That has been a concern, but we're all hopeful that the district attorney's going to do the right thing," he said.

A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had no comment on the interviews, saying: "We will not discuss the facts or evidence in what remains an ongoing investigation."

'In seclusion'
After arriving from Guinea in 2003, Diallo told Newsweek she spent years braiding hair before working at a bodega in New York City's Bronx borough. As a maid at the Sofitel hotel, she received $25 an hour plus tips.

Diallo said her husband in Guinea died of an illness but did not provide further details. Roughly two years after being raped by two soldiers in Conakry, the Guinean capital, she fled with her daughter, now 15, to the United States, where she said she has few close friends.

Following the alleged attack, Diallo spent weeks in protective custody, holed up in a hotel with her daughter.

"She's been in seclusion for over two months. She hasn't been able to take a walk in the park," her lawyer said.

French newspaper France Soir reported in a front page headline that David Koubbi, the lawyer for French writer Tristane Banon, who has accused Strauss-Kahn of a 2003 sexual assault, had met with Diallo. It added only that he "was impressed by her courage."

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Strauss-Kahn accuser goes public

 Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, broke her silence Sunday in an interview with Newsweek.NEW: The accuser's attorney says the defense has conducted a "smear campaign"Nafissatou Diallo conducts interviews with Newsweek and ABC NewsIn both, she offers her account of what happed May 14 with Strauss-KahnThe former IMF chief's lawyer claim it's all part of a bid to get a settlement

(CNN) -- The maid who accused former International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in a New York City hotel room has ended her months-long silence and gone public.

Nafissatou Diallo, whose credibility has been questioned by Strauss-Kahn's lawyers and prosecutors, spoke to Newsweek magazine for an article posted on its website Sunday. She also conducted an interview Robin Roberts of ABC News, which is set to air Monday on "Good Morning America."

CNN previously has not identified Diallo, given the network's policy against naming sexual assault victims. But it is now naming her, in light of her decision to make her case to the media.

On May 14, Diallo accused Strauss-Kahn -- who besides being a global economic leader had been mentioned as a leading contender for the French presidency -- of assaulting her at Manhattan's Sofitel Hotel, where she was an employee. He was charged in New York with sexual abuse and attempted rape, pleading not guilty on all counts.

In an interview conducted at her lawyer's office in New York City, Diallo told Newsweek that Strauss-Kahn was naked when he slammed the door shut to his luxury hotel room, forced himself upon her and tried to make her perform oral sex on him.

"Because of him they call me a prostitute," Diallo said, referring to pubished reports she had sex for money. "I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there are some places you cannot use your power, you cannot use your money."

The 32-year-old Guinean native told the magazine she was "nervous" and "scared" when she eventually ran from the room, ending an incident that took about 15 minutes.

Yet the fallout has been far more extensive, and continues.

Strauss-Kahn was initially arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, while on-board a Paris-bound plane. His arrest created an international furor, prompting his resignation as IMF chief as New York Judge Michael Obus ordered him held under a $6 million bail.

After posting bond, Strauss-Kahn had been confined to a luxury townhouse. But on July 1, the judge freed him from house arrest after prosecutors presented evidence showing that Diallo admitted she'd lied about the specifics of her whereabouts after the incident and, from her past, the details of an asylum application and information she put on tax forms.

But while the case took a dramatic turn, the charges against the 62-year-old have not been dismissed. And there have been more twists in recent weeks, including writer Tristane Banon's filing a complaint accusing Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape in France, stemming from an alleged 2003 incident in Paris. A lawyer for Strauss-Kahn in France said he subsequently filed a counter-claim against Banon for "false declarations."

Still, most of the intrigue remains centered in the United States, where lawyers for the suspect and the defendant continue to go back and forth challenging each other's tactics. Diallo's interviews further stoked those fires, prompting strongly worded responses from both sides.

On Sunday, Strauss-Kahn's U.S.-based attorneys William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman issued a statement chastising Diallo for talking with the media, claiming she is "the first accuser in history to conduct a media campaign to persuade a prosecutor to pursue charges against a person from whom she wants money."

"The number of rallies, press conferences and media events they have orchestrated is exceeded only by the number of lies and misstatements she has made to law enforcement, friends, medical professionals and reporters," the lawyers said, referring to her and her attorney's actions. "It is time for this unseemly circus to stop."

Kenneth Thompson, Diallo's attorney, shot back accusing Strauss-Kahn's attorneys of conducting "an unprecedented smear campaign against the victim of a violent sexual attack."

"Because of those contemptible, baseless and anonymous attacks, Ms. Diallo was forced to come forward in order to put a face to the brutal crime," Thompson said in a statement.

CNN's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.

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