The IMF chief's wife, well-known French television personality Anne Sinclair, jumped to her husband's defense. QUOTE: "While this incident constituted an error in judgment on my part, for which I take full responsibility, I firmly believe that I have not abused my position," Strauss-Kahn wrote in an email to IMF staff after an affair with a subordinate became public in 2008. PIVOTAL IN EUROPE'S DEBT WOES 
 
 An economics professor and former French finance minister, Strauss-Kahn took over the IMF in November 2007 for a five-year term, and won praise for helping galvanize leaders to inject billions of dollars into the world economy during the global financial crisis.
– IMF chief/would-be French presidential contender Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and unlawful imprisonment today following yesterday's alleged attack on a maid in the $3,000-a-night NYC hotel suite Strauss-Kahn had been staying in. An NYPD rep says the 32-year-old maid "told detectives he came out of the bathroom naked, ran down a hallway to the foyer where she was, pulled her into a bedroom, and began to sexually assault her." "She pulled away from him and he dragged her down a hallway into the bathroom where he engaged in a criminal sexual act, according to her account to detectives. He tried to lock her into the hotel room," said the rep. Strauss-Kahn "will plead not guilty," one of his lawyers told Reuters. Strauss-Kahn—who has polled ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy—is finished, says presidential rival Marine Le Pen: "The case and the charges ... mark the end of his campaign and pre-campaign for the presidency and will most likely prompt the IMF to ask him to leave his post." Click to read more about Strauss-Kahn.