Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn left the Manhattan town house where he's being held under house arrest to go to the doctor on Friday.
A person familiar with Strauss-Kahn's plans told The Associated Press that the economist left his temporary home for the appointment. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the house arrest arrangement.
He and his wife got into a black vehicle around 7:30 a.m. outside the $50,000-a-month town house in Manhattan's trendy TriBeCa neighborhood.
Strauss-Kahn was spending his second full day Friday in the latest locale for his high-priced house arrest, which allows the ex-IMF leader to leave for doctors' appointments, religious observances and court appearances.
The 62-year-old economist is accused of sexually attacking a hotel housekeeper May 14. He says he's innocent.
The case has unleashed a swarm of sometimes minute-to-minute reporting by a fiercely competitive international media presence.
On Thursday, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers lambasted articles attributed to anonymous sources — in the police department, they say — as containing "a wide array of prejudicial information about Mr. Strauss-Kahn" and information his lawyers haven't yet gotten themselves. They noted articles in various outlets this week saying that Strauss-Kahn's DNA was found on the 32-year-old maid's clothing.
Various "information has now been recklessly injected into the public arena with the potential of permanently prejudicing potential jurors who are being exposed to these materials on a daily basis," they wrote, suggesting they might seek court action if the leaks don't stop.
The Police Department declined to comment.
Local
Strauss-Kahn was moved Wednesday night from the high-rise near Wall Street where he began serving his house arrest to the red-brick town house a few blocks away.
The four-bedroom house is listed for sale at $13,995,000. It boasts a home theater and gym, but its most attractive feature may be that it is one of Manhattan's relatively few single-family houses, so Strauss-Kahn doesn't share it with neighbors.
Strauss-Kahn is a prisoner there, his every movement monitored electronically, armed guards and cameras watching him around the clock in an arrangement expected to cost him about $200,000 a month; he also has posted a total of $6 million in bond and cash bail.
The town house is on a cobblestone-paved side street where some warehouses have been converted to pricy apartments. Dozens of good restaurants are close enough to deliver; Strauss-Kahn and his wife, Anne Sinclair, reportedly ordered steak from nearby Landmarc on Wednesday.
Most people on the block have appeared unfazed by their new neighbor.
