The chief of the International Monetary Fund remains behind bars after being denied bail on charges of trying to rape a hotel maid.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest at the weekend rocked the financial world as the IMF grapples with the European debt crisis, and upended French presidential politics as he was widely considered to be the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Making his first appearance on the sex charges in a New York court on Monday, a grim-looking Strauss-Kahn stood slumped before a judge in a dark raincoat and open-collared shirt.
The 62-year-old said nothing as a lawyer professed his innocence and strove in vain to get him released on bail.
The judge ruled against him after prosecutors warned the wealthy banker might flee to France and put himself beyond the reach of US law.
"This battle has just begun," defence lawyer Benjamin Brafman told scores of reporters outside the courthouse, adding that Strauss-Kahn might appeal against the bail denial.
Strauss-Kahn will be held in protective custody in the city's Rikers Island jail because of his high profile, said New York Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello. Unlike some inmates who share 50-bed barracks, Strauss-Kahn will have a single-bed cell and eat all his meals alone there
Strauss-Kahn is accused of attacking a maid who had gone in to clean his penthouse suite on Saturday afternoon at a luxury hotel near Times Square. He is charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act and unlawful imprisonment.
The most serious charge carries five to 25 years in prison.
Meanwhile, a number of other allegations have surfaced against Strauss-Khan. A lawyer for a French novelist has said the writer is likely to file a criminal complaint accusing him of sexually assaulting her nine years ago. A French politician accuses him of attacking other maids in previous stays at the same luxury hotel, and in New York, prosecutors said they are working to verify reports of at least one other case, which they suggested was overseas.
