DOMINIQUE Strauss-Kahn’s struggles with New York City justice may have ended, but his accuser’s battle may just be beginning, the New York Post reported today.
Hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo could be on the hook for state and federal perjury charges, legal experts warned. “Diallo, by holding press conferences, is baiting the prosecution, who have hard evidence she engaged in serious acts of perjury,” according to defense attorney Bruce Barket, who is not involved with the case.
Diallo’s alleged transgressions include lying to federal authorities about being gang-raped by soldiers in her native Guinea, claiming a fictitious daughter as a dependent on her tax returns and telling a grand jury that she ran out of the Sofitel hotel room in shock after Strauss-Kahn supposedly attacked her – when she actually went on to clean another room.
“There has been a precedent for prosecutors in these kinds of incidents,” according to Mr Barket, who negotiated a no-jail plea for Hofstra University student Danmell Ndonye in 2009 after she falsely accused four classmates of rape. “My guess, they will prosecute her.”
Federal agencies who could seek charges include the Internal Revenue Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A Class D state felony perjury conviction carries a sentence of eight to 25 years. “Offering a false instrument in the second degree is an A misdemeanor. If she was charged and convicted of that, she could spend more time in Rikers than [Strauss-Kahn] did,” defense attorney Thomas Kenniff said.
Asked whether he would pursue a perjury charge against Diallo, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. declined to comment.
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