Former IMF Chief In Broadway Apartment Downtown

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been released from custody at Rikers Island and is out on bail until his next court appearance on charges of sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel maid.

Strauss-Kahn arrived Friday evening at  71 Broadway, a lower Manhattan luxury apartment building, where he will stay for at least for the first few days of his home confinement.

The original plan was for Strauss-Kahn to move into a luxury residential hotel under armed guard on Manhattan's well-to-do Upper East Side. Even though the address was never officially released, police and media converged on the building, the Bristol Plaza.

"Last night there was an effort by the media to invade the building,'' Strauss-Kahn attorney William Taylor said. "That is why the tenants in the building will not accept his living there.''

The French politician will be allowed to leave the residence for one weekly religious observance, medical appointments, meetings with lawyers and court appearances, according to the release order approved by a judge Friday.

A judge granted a request made by lawyers for the former International Monetary Chief on Thursday to let him out on $1 million bail.

The agreement, finalized Friday, stipulates that he will wear an electronic monitoring device and live under video surveillance.

In court on Thursday, Judge Michael Obus told Strauss-Kahn: "I expect you will be here when we need you. If there is the slightest problem, we can withdraw conditions."

Prosecutors on Thursday announced a grand jury indictment; the seven counts include attempted rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse, forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment.

The 32-year-old maid has told police that Strauss-Kahn groped her, locked her in a bedroom and forced her to perform oral sex.

Defense lawyers have denied the charges and say there is no evidence of a forced encounter.

Prosecutors had argued that Strauss-Kahn was a flight risk and that the evidence against him is "substantial."

Defense lawyers sought the second bail hearing three days after another judge denied bail and sent Strauss-Kahn to Rikers Island, where he had been on suicide watch.

Strauss-Kahn is a member of France's Socialist party and was widely considered the strongest potential challenger to President Nicolas Sarkozy next year.

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