A US judge on Thursday allowed ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn to post bail of $1 million in cash and a $5 million bond in order to avoid being held in a New York jail while he faces sexual assault charges.
Strauss-Kahn was indicted on all seven charges presented to a New York grand jury following the alleged sexual assault of a maid in a New York hotel room.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said the indictment included felony charges of attempted rape in the first degree and criminal sexual acts.
'EXTREMELY SERIOUS CHARGES'
"These are extremely serious charges," Vance told reporters after a judge set bail at $1 million cash for the French politician while ordering him to remain under house arrest in a Manhattan apartment, with an armed guard.
Strauss-Kahn also had to put up a $5 million bond, surrender all travel documents and agree to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
The arraignment is set for June 6.
WIFE, DAUGHTER IN COURT ROOM
During the recess, Strauss-Kahn's American-born French television journalist wife, whose eyes were bloodshot, wiped away tears from the eyes of his sobbing daughter Camille Strauss-Kahn with the side of her hand.
"The real issues for the court are that there are conditions, not just financial conditions, that the defendant will be here" for court hearings, judge Michael Obus told the court before leaving to consider his decision.
"The defendant lives in a country where it would be difficult if not impossible to get him back," he said, referring to Strauss-Kahn's homeland of France, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
RESIGNED FROM IMF, VOWED TO CLEAR HIS NAME
The hearing came just hours after Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF vowing to battle to clear his name. His lawyer told the court the leading French politician was an "honorable man" who would not skip bail.
Defense lawyers said Strauss-Kahn would put up $1 million in bail, surrender all his travel documents and submit to 24 hour electronic monitoring. A private security team would be with him "physically" until the electronic bracelet could be fitted on Friday.
He would also agree to be confined round-the-clock with his wife in her New York apartment, where his daughter has been living.
The prosecution argued that Strauss-Kahn was an immensely powerful man who had every incentive to flee and the means to evade justice if he did.
DENIES ALL ALLEGATIONS
"I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me," said Strauss-Kahn, who before the scandal broke was considered a top contender to be the next president of France.
Strauss-Kahn's statement paid tribute to his American-born wife, top television journalist Anne Sinclair, who was in court Thursday, saying he "loved more than anything."
The veteran French politician said it was with "infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present... my resignation."
"I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence," said Strauss-Kahn.
His lawyers were also expected to tout his wife's American credentials before Obus, hoping to free him from Rikers Island jail.
Strauss-Kahn was refused bail in his first court hearing Monday, after a different judge deemed him a flight risk, and he has now spent three nights in the notorious jail in isolation and on suicide watch.
Strauss-Kahn's resignation paves the way for the IMF to elect a new managing director as it steers delicate negotiations on the eurozone debt crisis.
Acting IMF chief John Lipsky said the Fund's executive board would meet later Thursday to launch the search for Strauss-Kahn's successor.
He said earlier in a speech that he deeply regrets "the circumstances that have made it necessary for me to substitute for Dominique Strauss-Kahn."
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is the front-runner to succeed him and become the first woman to head the IMF, but emerging economic powers have called for an end to Europe's virtual monopoly on the world lender's top post.
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