A New York judge has approved a new residence where former International Monetary Fund director Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be confined under house arrest: a 6,800-square-foot townhouse at 153 Franklin St., a few blocks from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, according to a law-enforcement official.
David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state court system, said New York Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus approved the move in a conference call with defense attorneys and prosecutors Wednesday afternoon.
According to online real-estate listings, the Franklin Street townhouse has four bedrooms and a roof deck.
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Associated Press
Former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, center, was led Wednesday from 71 Broadway, where he had been confined since Friday.
Since Friday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn had been confined inside 71 Broadway downtown, in a corporate residence found by the company he hired to guard him around the clock as part of his approved bail package. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who is charged with sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a maid in the Sofitel New York hotel on May 14, has also provided $1 million cash and a $5 million bail bond to secure his release from jail.
A gaggle of reporters, photographers and onlookers curious about the commotion gathered across the street from the luxury building near historic Trinity Church as word spread that a judge had approved his move. Shortly before he left the building, a large police presence gathered outside, including plain clothes detectives and New York City Police Chief Joseph J. Esposito, the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the police department.
About 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62 years old, walked out of 71 Broadway, just steps from the New York Stock Exchange, with security escorts to his sides. Wearing a gray suit and no tie, and free of handcuffs, he was placed into a waiting sport-utility vehicle and whisked away with a police escort.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a leading French presidential hopeful before the incident, was arrested on May 14, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on May 16, resigned from his IMF position on May 18 and was indicted the following day. Last Friday, he was released on bail and was expected to be confined in an apartment on East 65th Street. He was instead taken to 71 Broadway that same day after the Upper East Side arrangement fell through.
Write to Chad Bray at chad.bray@dowjones.com and Sean Gardiner at sean.gardiner@wsj.com
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