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Dominique Strauss-Kahn Released, Headed Downtown After UES Apartment Deal Collapses

By DNAinfo Staff on May 20, 2011 3:58pm  | Updated on May 20, 2011 12:23pm

By Shayna Jacobs and Ben Fractenberg

DNAinfo Staff

MANHATTAN — Dominique Strauss-Kahn was sprung from Rikers Island Friday after a judge signed off on his bail and house arrest plans — which had to change at the last minute after a swanky Upper East Side apartment he had intended to use suddenly gave him the boot.

Strauss-Kahn was turned over to a security team, who will watch his every move when he is under house arrest, sources said.

Earlier, the finance big's team scrambled to come up with new arrangements for the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund's release after the Bristol Plaza on East 65th Street declined to let him and his wife move in because of a bombardment of press attention, they said.

The Bristol Plaza, where Dominique Strauss-Kahn had expected to serve his house arrest.
The Bristol Plaza, where Dominique Strauss-Kahn had expected to serve his house arrest.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Fractenberg

"Last night, there was a member of the media trying to get into the apartment building," Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, William Taylor, said Friday. "That's why the tenants in the building would not accept his living there."

Manhattan Supreme Court Administrative Judge Michael Obus signed off on a new Downtown location Friday afternoon, calling the last-minute building substitution a "sustainable location for the defendant for three to four days."

"This is intended to be temporary, meaning a few days, and in the meantime efforts will be made to arrange another suitable residence," Obus said.

Strauss-Kahn will not be allowed to leave the location under any circumstances, Obus said.

The one-time contender for French president had been held without bail and kept on suicide watch at Rikers Island jail since Monday, when he was arraigned on charges that he attempted to rape a maid at West 44th Street's Sofitel hotel on Saturday. He was arrested on a Paris-bound Air France jet at JFK airport that night minutes before takeoff.

The security company that's been hired to guard Strauss-Kahn while on house arrest has an office downtown, which is where he's believed to be heading after his release, according to the New York Times.

Prosecutor John McConnell said the building location isn't ideal, in that it's near Ground Zero, close to several transit hubs, and next to some very large construction sites.

"It is an extremely problematic area for the police department to maintain control," McConnell said.

McConnell added that the NYPD, the mayor's office, and the neighborhood should ultimately have a say in Strauss-Kahn's final house arrest location.

"The police department and the mayor's office should be consulted and should be allowed to vet this plan and see what if any security concerns there are, and community concerns for the residents who live there," McConnell said.

Press line up outside 15 Maiden Lane Friday night after reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taking his house arrest there.
Press line up outside 15 Maiden Lane Friday night after reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taking his house arrest there.
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DNAinfo/David Torres

News of the apartment deal falling through came as some residents and neighbors of Bristol Plaza expressed dismay at the throngs of media swarming their sidewalk in anticipation of the arrival of the French politician.

"I'm not comfortable, it make me nervous," said a 54-year-old woman near Bristol Plaza who declined to give her name.

Bail bondsman Ira Judelson said he posted the $1 million cash bail and a $5 million bond backed by Strauss-Kahn's wife's money Friday.

"I feel very comfortable with the collateral, I feel very comfortable with the attorneys," Judelson told reporters, adding that the only time he's ever posted bail that high was for a hedge fund manager.

Judelson said he's posted bond for a host of celebrities and musicians, including Lil' Wayne, and said he has no fear about Strauss-Kahn fleeing the country thanks to the "round the clock security" assigned to watch him.