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Lawyer for DSK Accuser Crashed Meeting with DA, Sources Say

By DNAinfo Staff on July 19, 2011 3:46pm  | Updated on July 19, 2011 6:32pm

By Shayna Jacobs, Murray Weiss and Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Staff

MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — The lawyer for a Midtown maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of raping her in a hotel room showed up uninvited Tuesday to a meeting the DA's office had called with the lawyer for a French journalist who also claimed to have been attacked by the former IMF chief, sources told DNAinfo.

Kenneth Thompson, who represents the 32-year-old Guinean immigrant, surprised prosecutors when he showed up Tuesday alongside David Koubbi, the lawyer for journalist Tristane Banon, sources said.

The pair spent close to three hours in the meeting with the District Attorney's office, but Thompson was only allowed to participate in part of the discussions, sources said.

The District Attorney's office declined to comment on the meeting.

The French journalist Tristane Banon formally filed a complaint against Strauss-Kahn in her home country after news of the alleged New York attack on the Sofitel hotel maid in May.

But since then, the Manhattan case against Strauss-Kahn has largely fallen apart, as prosecutors investigate growing concerns about the credibility of the accuser.

Thompson briefly spoke to reporters on the way out of the Tuesday meeting, saying that he and his client "want Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be accountable for what he did to her."

"It is our hope and our prayer that the truth will come out," Thompson added, "What we want is for her to be able to tell her account," he added of his client, who has not yet spoken to the press.

But sources said Thompson and his client have begun to clash after he tried to prevent her from speaking publicly, including preventing her from speaking to prosecutors for 19 days after the initial meeting with prosecutors following the attack, sources said.

Thompson did not immediately respond to calls for comment. He has been openly critical of the DA's handling of the case, and accused the top prosecutor of being afraid to bring the case.

Koubbi did not comment as he left the courthouse Tuesday, except to say that he would be returning to France that night.

The lawyers walked together from the courthouse to the Brooklyn Bridge subway stop in Foley Square.