Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleads not guilty in sexual assault of midtown Manhattan chambermaid 
 
 Todd Maisel/News Dominique Strauss Kahn, center, enters Manhattan criminal court with his wife Anne Sinclair, second right, for his arraignment. 
 
 French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn had to push through a throng of angry hotel workers shouting "Shame on you" to enter a plea on charges he tried to rape a maid. 
 
 "Not guilty," Strauss-Kahn said in a heavy French accent in a Manhattan courtroom Monday. 
 
 Joined by his wife, lawyers and two security guards, Strauss-Kahn appeared pale in a charcoal suit, blue shirt and tie. 
 
 The former head of the International Monetary Fund was greeted by jeers and catcalls from hotel maids as he walked into the courthouse. 
 
 "He should be ashamed of what he did," said Aissata Bocum, 46, a housekeeper at the New Yorker Hotel. "Because we're room attendants doesn't mean we're a piece of trash." 
 
 Strauss-Kahn is accused of violently attacking a maid at the Sofitel, pulling off her clothes and trying to force her to perform oral sex. 
 
 He is under house arrest on $6 million bail and bond - and Judge Michael Obus warned him to abide by all restrictions set by the court. 
 
 "I expect you to be here every time," Obus said, summoning him back to court July 18. 
 
 A trial date has not yet been set. Defense lawyers filed motions demanding the evidence - including DNA - prosecutors intend to use. 
 
 Strauss-Kahn grinned broadly as he walked arm in arm with his wife, Anne Sinclair, to a courthouse elevator after the five-minute hearing. 
 
 Defense lawyer Ben Brafman, who is apparently planning to argue any contact was consensual, said the plea spoke for itself. 
 
 "He pleaded not guilty. That is a very eloquent, powerful statement that he made that denies the charges," he said. 
 
 "Once the evidence is reviewed, it will be clear that there was no element of forcible compulsion whatsoever." 
 
 A lawyer for the victim scoffed at the strategy. 
 
 "The suggestion by defense counsel that this was consensual is preposterous," Kenneth Thompson told reporters. 
 
 "The victim wants you to know that all of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's power, money and influence throughout the world will not keep the truth about what he did to her in that hotel room from coming out." 
 
 He said there was no chance his client would accept a settlement to drop the charges. 
 
 "She's standing up for her dignity as a woman. She's standing up for all women and children around the world who have been sexually abused," Thompson said. 
 
 Getting Strauss-Kahn through the media gauntlet into the courthouse required shutting down one of two entrances to the massive downtown building. 
 
 More than 115 reporters from around the world - including author Jay McInerney reporting for Vanity Fair - crowded into the courtroom. 
 
 State courts spokesman David Bookstaver said the appearance cost approximately $2,500 in overtime for court officers. 
 
 With Lore Croghan 
 
 mgrace@nydailynews.com ||||| 1 of 5. Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn (C) appears with his lawyers Ben Brafman (R) and William Taylor, in New York Supreme Court during his arraignment hearing in New York, June 6, 2011. S 
 
 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges he sexually assaulted a New York hotel maid in a case that cost him his job and a chance at the French presidency. 
 
 Wearing a dark suit, Strauss-Kahn arrived at the courthouse with his wife, French television journalist Anne Sinclair, walking beside him, arm-in-arm. They were flanked by two private security guards hired to prevent him from skipping bail. 
 
 The couple walked past a throng of media and a large group of hotel workers there in solidarity with the woman who said Strauss-Kahn attacked her. "Shame on you," they chanted. 
 
 Strauss-Kahn, 62, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on charges including attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. 
 
 Asked to enter his plea, Strauss-Kahn told the court clerk, "Not guilty." The next date in the case at New York Supreme Court before Judge Michael Obus was set for July 18. 
 
 "When the evidence is in, it will be clear there was no forcible compulsion," defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman told reporters after the hearing, confirming he will contend that any sex with the maid was consensual. 
 
 But the maid's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said the notion that the 32-year-old "hard-working single mother" had consensual sex with Strauss-Kahn was "preposterous." 
 
 "All of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's power, money and influence will not stop the truth of what he did to her in that hotel room from coming out," he said. "She is going to come into this courthouse, get into that witness stand and tell the world what (he) did to her." 
 
 Strauss-Kahn left the court, holding his wife's hand. the pair looked stoic as they strode to a black Ford SUV as hotel workers shouted at him and news photographers took pictures. 
 
 "SHE'S OUR SISTER" 
 
 Praised for his role tackling the 2007-09 global financial crisis and attempts to keep Europe's debt crisis under control, Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund a few days after his May 14 arrest in the first-class section of an Air France plane, minutes before it was to depart New York for Paris. 
 
 He was accused of attacking the maid, an African immigrant, a few hours earlier when she came to clean his suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel in Midtown Manhattan, apparently believing it had been vacated. 
 
 Monday's arraignment marks the start of what could be lengthy legal proceedings. 
 
 A new IMF chief has not yet been appointed. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Mexican central bank chief Agustin Carstens both want to replace Strauss-Kahn. 
 
 Peter Ward, president of Local 6 of the New York Hotel Workers Union, was among those outside the court in solidarity with the maid. "She's our sister and we support her," he said. 
 
 New York hotel worker Beverly Banton said she was once groped by a guest and that while the man was evicted from the hotel, security never called police. "Back then, they said to us, 'The guests come first,'" she said. "There's a lot of people this happened to who didn't say nothing." 
 
 Until the New York arrest, Strauss-Kahn had been expected to quit his IMF post for a different reason -- a bid to become the Socialist candidate for president of France. He had been a strong favorite to beat conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy at the polls next year. 
 
 Instead, Strauss-Kahn spent four days in New York's Rikers Island jail before he was released on $1 million cash bail and $5 million bond and placed under house arrest with 24-hour armed guards and electronic monitoring. 
 
 The father of four daughters spent a few days in a Lower Manhattan apartment but is now living in a luxurious townhouse rented by his wife in Manhattan's TriBeCa district. The townhouse has a gym and home cinema and was last posted for sale for almost $14 million. 
 
 A prosecutor estimated Strauss-Kahn would pay $200,000 a month for his security arrangements. 
 
 Strauss-Kahn's lawyer has said that although his client has a net worth of roughly $2 million, his wife, an heiress, has deeper pockets. So far, Sinclair has shown no hesitation about using her personal wealth to help her husband. 
 
 (Writing by Mark Egan, editing by Bill Trott)
– Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges today, reports the New York Daily News, which notes that he was joined by his wife and appeared "pale." Should he be convicted on charges of attempted rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse, forcible touching, and unlawful imprisonment, he could be sentenced to as many as 25 years in prison. To enter Manhattan Supreme Court today, Strauss-Kahn had to push through a crowd of protesting hotel workers shouting, “Shame on you!” His arraignment today kickstarts what could be lengthy legal proceedings, notes Reuters. (In related news, a defense source says there were "irregularities" in Strauss-Kahn's arrest.)