Strauss-Kahn Out on $1M Bail

The AP reports:

A judge has agreed to free former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn from a New York City jail on the condition that he remain under house arrest.

The judge set bail at $1 million, and approved an elaborate arrangement under which the 62-year-old diplomat and banker would be confined to a private apartment in Manhattan and monitored by armed guards.

Strauss-Kahn will also have to take out a $5 million insurance bond.

Prosecutors have said he should remain behind bars.

Strauss-Kahn resigned his IMF post late Wednesday.

His political career in shambles and his leadership of the IMF a memory, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was formally indicted Thursday and made a new bid to get released from jail while he awaits trial on charges that he sexually abused a hotel maid.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund arrived in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon wearing a gray suit and an open blue shirt. He turned to give a quick smile to supporters in the gallery that included a daughter and his wife, the television journalist Anne Sinclair.

The 62-year-old banker and diplomat has offered to post $1 million in bail money to gain his release from the city's bleak Rikers Island jail complex. He's been behind bars since his arrest Saturday.

A prosecutor began the hearing by announcing that a grand jury had found enough evidence for an indictment, a procedural step that elevates the seriousness of the charge.

"The proof against him is substantial. It is continuing to grow every day as the investigation continues," said Assistant District Attorney John "Artie" McConnell.

An attorney for Strauss-Kahn, William Taylor, said that Sinclair had rented an apartment in the city where her husband could be confined and watched by an armed monitor, although he suggested few precautions were necessary.

"In our view, no bail is required to confirm Mr. Strauss-Kahn's appearance. He is an honorable man ... and he has only one interest at this time, and that is to clear his name," Taylor said.