Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, is in a New York prison holding cell after he was refused bail on charges of attempting to rape a hotel maid, as prosecutors said they were looking into reports that he had engaged in a similar attack before.
Looking tired and gaunt in a badly-fitting black rain-coat, the unshaven 62-year-old was led into the New York criminal court hearing in handcuffs to face charges over a brutal sexual assault which have left the IMF in disarray and sent shockwaves through French politics, almost certainly ending the presidential hopes of the man tipped as the clear winner against Sarkozy in 2012.
Charges of crack cocaine dealing, stealing, and violence were heard, bail applications of between $500 (£309) and $2,000 were granted, and then it was the turn of Mr Strauss-Kahn, head of an institution that lends to countries in crisis.
He faces charges of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a maid at a Manhattan hotel, to which his lawyers pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, known widely as DSK, posed unsmilingly for the official court photographer, as the reporters crowded into the packed room scribbled down every detail of his appearance.
John McConnell, an assistant district attorney said: "He sexually assaulted her and attempted to forcibly rape her," and when that failed, he forced her to perform oral sex. He said the US authorities were now investigating whether Strauss-Kahn "engaged in conduct similar to the conduct alleged in this complaint on at least one other occasion". Asked to clarify by the judge, McConnell said the incident took place "in Europe".
In France, writer and journalist Tristane Banon was preparing to file a legal complaint relating to an alleged sexual attack in Paris in 2002. Her lawyer, David Koubbi, said: "We're planning to make a complaint.
Afterwards DSK's lawyers pronounced themselves disappointed by the bail ruling, and vowed that the battle against the charges of attempted rape and sexual assault had only begun.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who was due to be present at key meetings on Europe's debt crisis this week, will spend the time in police custody, starting the fight to clear his name.
One clue emerged in court as to what may be the alibi the defence is trying to establish for DSK.
The person he lunched with on Saturday will confirm he was not trying to flee,
Giving more details of the allegations Strauss-Kahn is to face in France, David Koubbi, Banon's lawyer, told French radio: "There are a number of elements, facts, which prove what she is saying. So, to the question that some people might legitimately ask – 'Is she making it up?' – the answer is no." Banon had previously made the allegation on TV in 2007 and in an interview with a news website, but had not gone to police. She said on TV she had gone to interview Strauss-Kahn, who had first insisted on holding her hand, then made sexual advances. "It ended really badly. We ended up fighting," she said. "It finished really violently. We fought on the floor. It wasn't a case of a couple of slaps. I kicked him, he unhooked my bra, he tried to open my jeans." She said he had acted like a "rutting chimpanzee".
On radio, Strauss-Kahn's political ally, Socialist Jean-Marie Le Guen, dismissed the Banon case as ill-founded.
Under French law, sexual assault charges must be filed within three years but attempted rape charges can be brought up to 10 years after the alleged attack. Banon did not file charges at the time of the alleged assault after her mother, Anne Mansouret, a local Socialist party councillor and Strauss-Kahn's friend, persuaded her against it. She says she now regrets that decision.
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