After then-International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May for committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment of a hotel maid in New York City, it was reported soon after that his legal team was shopping around for PR help. Now that all charges against Strauss-Kahn have been dropped, it would be interesting to know what role PR played in the final outcome of the case.
The case seemed fairly airtight from the beginning, since there was physical evidence of assault of the maid, Nafissatou Diallo. Then, information began to spread about Diallo's "lies" to law enforcement about both her background and circumstances around the incident. The extensive media coverage tide turned from "French lothario" to "lying immigrant maid." During this time, Diallo went on a PR offensive herself, telling her side of the story to Newsweek and ABC News.
Protesters were out in force at the dismissal hearing, saying it's a case of a rich white man with unlimited resources to battle the charges versus a poor immigrant with little resources. Do you think PR played a major role in this case?
PR played a vital role in this incidence. As the International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in the case and unable to project his clean image in the media, whereas PR projected the Nafissatou Diallo as liar who is framing a case against the IMF Chief.