In Greece, meanwhile, 7,000 plainclothes police officers will be on duty when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Athens.

The Securities and Exchange Commission turned to a high-frequency trading firm to help build a system that will help the bank monitor high-frequency trading.

The market for municipal bonds is stuck in the dark ages, writes The Times' Gretchen Morgenstern.

Yoga-practicing, Bruce Springstein lover Barry Rosenstein, the founder of Jana Partners, is the activist investor you can bring home to mama in this profile.

Lehman Brothers' defunct brokerage is getting closer to paying creditors, four years after the firm went under.

Wall Street is anticipating lower corporate profits when companies begin reporting third quarter earnings, but that's not necessarily going to slow the stock market.

HSBC received a court order to bar Occupy protestors from entering its Hong Kong headquarters. The company evicted demonstrators in September after an 11-month occupation.

If only T. Boone Pickens had died ... Bloomberg Businessweek looks at Oklahoma State University's scheme to fund its athletic department by investing in life insurance policies on the program's boosters.

Would you work for Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Female executives are split on the question, according to Bloomberg.

A caddy at East Hamptons Golf Club, where memberships start at $400,000 and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is a member, has self-published a book about looping for the rich.

Via Getty.

He did it—or didn't do it—again. Former IMF chief, French presidential would-be, and well-established womanizer Dominique Strauss-Kahn's latest set of charges—an accusation that he raped French journalist Tristane Banon—have been dropped by French prosecutors. Why?

Via CNN:

Strauss-Kahn admitted to "sexual aggression" against Tristane Banon at the time, but a three-year statute of limitations applies in the case, the Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement Thursday.

So, Dominique Strauss-Kahn—who admitted to attempting to sexually assault Tristane Banon during an interview for her book in 2003—has escape the short-arm of the law yet again. Yes, he admitted to it:

Mr. Strauss-Kahn admitted during questioning that he tried to kiss Ms. Banon without her consent, a judicial official told the Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the questioning is private.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn most recently had charges against him dropped by the Manhattan D.A.'s office when their case—over an alleged incident in May in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid—fell apart due to what they felt were inconsistencies in the accuser's testimony.

He has since filed a slander case against Ms. Banon, who has yet to press charges in a civil court for the incident against Mr. Strauss-Kahn. Nafissatou Diallo—his accuser in Manhattan—still has a civil case pending against Mr. Strauss-Kahn in America.

fkamer@observer.com |@weareyourfek

Via Getty.

Yesterday afternoon, news broke that the Manhattan D.A. office was going to request that all criminal charges of sexual assault against former I.M.F. chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn be dropped. This followed a meeting with Mr. Strauss-Kahn's accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, and her lawyer, Kenneth Thompson. Mr. Thompson had requested yesterday that a special prosecutor be appointed to the case; his request was denied this morning. Moments ago, Dominique Strauss-Kahn sat down in a courtroom in Lower Manhattan, and received a verdict on his long-contested innocence: the case against him has collapsed. He is a free man, and the conclusion of his long, strange, epic entanglement with the American judicial system has officially began.

The motion to drop the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn—a French presidential would-be, prior to the allegations against him—came in the form of a 25-page confession that detailed the Manhattan D.A.'s case unraveling following what they report as inconsistencies and suspect motives in Ms. Diallo's case. Among them were a story about what Ms. Diallo reportedly characterized as rape at the hands of soldiers in her native Guinea and a denied motive to profit from the case (despite what prosecutors noted as a recorded conversation with her fiance—detained in an Arizona holding jail for immigrants—discussed profit motive).

In an unusual moment of commentary, The New York Times noted the D.A.'s statement as something maintaining a stripe of broadcast intended for readers outside the judicial system:

The prosecutors’ treatise on the case seemed meant for an audience beyond Justice Obus. The case has attracted worldwide attention, largely because of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s stature, as the leader of the fund and the front-runner for the Socialist nomination for French president, and the lurid story line of a privileged man being accused of taking advantage of a hotel housekeeper. In laying out the circumstances in such detail, [Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance] also was giving a domestic audience, including Manhattan voters, an explanation for his decision. He may also have sought to address criticism from black leaders and women’s groups that he should proceed to trial.

Mr. Vance won an election in the middle of the trial; this is the second high-profile sexual assault case in Manhttan involving a controversial acquittal this year (the first was that of the infamous "rape cops" of the NYPD). The meeting between Ms. Diallo and the Manhattan D.A.'s office during which she and her lawyer were informed that a motion to drop the charges would proceed lasted a reported 30 seconds.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn's indictment was nothing if not a firestorm from the start: tabloids sought to convict him with strong language alluding to his reportedly sordid past of womanizing (another sexual assault accusation aimed at Mr. Strauss-Kahn stemming from a 2003 incident involving French journalist Tristane Banon has come to light since his arrest).

The arrest, "perp walk," and subsequent prosecution of Mr. Strauss-Kahn—reaction to which ranged from surefire conviction to reluctance to outright conspiratorial charges against Manhattan prosecutors—renewed a tension to Franco-American relations otherwise latent since the days of 'Freedom Fries' (yet, here in Manhattan, French sexual mores took a backseat to unwieldy real estate porn over where the accused would reside: a gauche Tribeca townhouse). In the beginning of July, the prosecution's case started to become unhinged: details of his accuser began leaking out along with what were reported as deep inconsistencies and questionable motives in her story. Mr. Strauss-Kahn—then under house arrest on a $1 M bail and a $5 M bond—was released on his own recognizance.

A few days later, the New York Post—who only a few weeks prior had all but characterized Dominique Strauss-Kahn as a sociopathic sex fiend who should be reputationally and, why not, physically castrated—used a single source to run a cover story alleging that Ms. Diallo was prostituting herself while under police protection. She responded by suing the New York Post for libel.

Towards the end of July, Ms. Diallo—once an otherwise anonymous maid at midtown Manhattan's Sofitel hotel—took her case to the press, with a Newsweek cover story and a three-part ABC News special interview to go with it.

The strategy backfired: it was another breaking point for both prosecutors (spurned by a plaintiff who's taken her case to the press, and a civil lawyer ever-outraged at their shortcomings) and defense lawyers for Mr. Strauss-Kahn (ever eager to find inconsistencies in her case, be they microscopic or glaring).

Since then, public support for the office of Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance has backfired—today, protesters waited for him outside the courtroom where Mr. Strauss-Kahn's final criminal hearing in the matter took place—while judicial support of Ms. Diallo's case (which now includes a civil suit) has not fared much better. On Monday afternoon, when the motion to dismiss charges was announced, it would seem the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn came to a head. Her lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, noted the prosecutors' motion to dismiss the charges as "a hatchet job on Ms. Diallo’s credibility."

This morning, in Manhattan Supreme Court, at 11:57 AM, Justice Michael J. Obus had heard enough. All criminal charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were ordered to be dropped. While he still faces a civil suit against him in The Bronx and the claims of Tristane Banon in France (to which his lawyers responded with a counter-suit of slander), the former I.M.F. chief's most heinous criminal charge is no longer; he is free to return to France, albeit a job and a surefire presidential run later. The memory of the Manhattan D.A.'s early hubris and unilateral conviction of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's guilt, its subsequent collapse—both of the procedural and emotional stripe—and Ms. Diallo are likely to remain in New York City far longer than he.

For how long and with what strength is anyone's guess.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Via Getty.

Reuters is reporting as of a few minutes ago that the Manhattan D.A.'s office—led by one very embattled Cy Vance—have asked for a dismissal of the criminal sexual assault charges against former I.M.F. chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The end of what has been a very long, headline-making scandal-plagued saga appears to have started, today.

The request for a dismissal comes directly on the heels of news that Kenneth Thompson, the lawyer for Mr. Strauss Kahn's accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, asked that a special prosecutor be appointed to the case (with those currently in place from Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance's office removed). In Mr. Thompson's motion, he alleged that the D.A. had "sabotaged" the case in leaking statements disparaging to his client's credibility to the press, while also subjecting her "to verbal abuse and outright disrespect."

If criminal charges are dropped against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, his accuser Nafissatou Diallo still has a civil suit against Mr. Strauss-Kahn to move forward with (or not); she also filed a lawsuit against the New York Post in July, charging them with libel after they published a story alleging that she had prostituted herself while under police protection.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn is due back in court tomorrow morning, where the criminal charges against him could be formally dismissed.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

“From The New York Times Newsroom: The Story Behind The Story,” read the subject line. The email consists of Metropolitan Editor Carolyn Ryan’s account of June 30 – the day that the DSK case unraveled.

Basically, the reader learns that the Times is amazing. Really, really amazing. Enough so to justify the $5.85 a month that all this amazingness costs. But is it worth it?

Talent? Why, yes.

“Willy [Rashbaum] is a wonderful reporter, a genius at cultivating cops and courts sources. But he shouldn't be allowed to drive.”

“…the ever-relentless courts reporter John Eligon.”

“Jim Dwyer, our Pulitzer Prize-winning Metro columnist, a remarkably plugged-in New York newspaperman…”

Exclusives? Check.

“To avoid tipping off our competitors, especially our ferocious tabloid rivals, I told Bill I was not including the story on our daily news budge.”

“Back in New York, our competitors were unable to match our reporting.”

Social Media Savy? They have that.

“Within minutes, Twitter lit up with people commenting on and re-tweeting the story. Requests for interviews with our reporters, from NPR to the BBC, flowed in.”

Good Times? What’s more fun than guacamole with co-workers?

“After sending the final version, we once again climbed into the Jetta and drove eight blocks from the Times to a Mexican restaurant, where we ate guacamole and read over the story on a printout of the next day's front page.”

Nafi Diallo

Dominique Strauss- Kahn’s accuser held a brief press conference today in a Brooklyn mega- church. Although she has been giving interviews over the past week, this was her first live public appearance since the May 14^th incident at the Sofitel.

“Hi, my name is Nafi… Diallo,” she said softly.

“Just take your time,” suggested her attorney Kenneth Thompson.

“I’m here because I heard people call me a lot of bad names. A lot of bad things. That’s why I have to be here and let people know a lot of things they say about me are not true,” Ms. Diallo explained to the crowd, barely audible above the din of clicking cameras and snapping flashbulbs.

Ms. Diallo said that she drew strength from her daughter. “My daughter was crying, but one day my daughter told me, she goes, ‘Mom please promise me you’ll stop crying… People tell bad things about you because they don’t know you. You have to remember this guy, he’s a powerful man everybody knows that… For you, only the people that you work with or our neighbors... but those people say good things about you because they know you. Please mom stop crying. Be strong for me.’”

Ms. Diallo discussed the emotional toll exacted on her family over the past two months.  “This is just too much for me. Too much for me and my daughter,” Ms. Diallo said. “What happened to me I don’t want it to have to happen to any other woman.”

Although unnamed in the press until this week, Ms. Diallo has been the subject of much speculation and negative media attention of late. Her case began to unravel weeks ago when Ms. Diallo was reportedly taped talking to an inmate about DSK’s wealth. The translation of that recording has now been called into question. Ms. Diallo met with prosecutors for eight hours today to discuss the alleged mis-translation.

The controversy centered around Ms. Diallo supposedly telling the inmate, “He has a lot of money. I know what to do,” referring, of course, to DSK.  Her intentions and credibility were immediately called into question.

Today, however, Ms. Diallo’s lawyers are suggesting that her Guinean dialect was mis-translated by the interpreter. Ms. Diallo and her supporters claim that it was in fact the inmate who made the observation about DSK’s wealth. Her comment “I know what to do,” was an unrelated response to the inmate’s inquiry about whether she had hired a lawyer.

The press conference today was the latest effort by Ms. Diallo’s camp to combat the aggressive media onslaught against her.  She is pictured on the cover of this week’s Newsweek and gave a tell-all interview to ABC News this Monday. Although some credibility questions remain, we surely haven't heard the last of Nafi Diallo.

Photo from France 24

Via Getty Images.

As reported by the New York Times last night, today, the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case reconvened today, and the former IMF chief was released from his bail on his own recognizance. He must only promise to appear in court, as the charges against him have not been dropped. More on the press conference and future of the case, after the jump.

This was not in the New York Times report last night, and this is not going to help the prosecution:

"She actually recounted the entire story to prosecutors and later said it was false."

And in the NY Daily News this morning:

"'The DA's office has concluded she materially misled the grand jury,' said a source close to the case. 'The case has gone to hell. It's a wreck.'" They also note that a perjury charge against the accuser is a possibility.

From the press conference, being carried live:

Zero Hedge notes that the current press line of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's only defense left being that of consensual sex "is a lie."

Prosecutor Kenneth Thompson noted during the press conference:

"When the victim walked into that suite she did so for one reason - to clean the suite. The victim here may have made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean she's not a rape victim." And later, explained that his client told him: "I will go to my grave knowing what this man did to me. I have nothing left now. I am going to come out and tell the world what Dominique Strauss-Kahn did to me.

At one point, the BBC had to stop carrying Mr. Thompson's press conference because of "the explicit nature of the lawyer's comments."

The New York Times has released the letter from prosecutors to the defense team.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn walked out of the courtroom with his wife, Anne Sinclair. He was smiling as the couple got into the car, and drove away.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek