18.30pm BST: That’s it for our live coverage of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s bail hearing today. Thanks for reading, and please keep an eye on the site for the latest developments throughout the evening.
18.23pm BST A call for the Socialists to extend their primary campaign deadline to let Mr Strauss-Kahn run appears to be gaining support tonight despite being initially rejected by officials, writes Adam Sage. Leading figures in the party, including François Hollande, himself a candidate, came out in favour of the idea.
18.17pm BST Today’s developments had underlined “how easy it is for people to be charged with serious crimes and for there to be a rush to judgment,” says William Taylor, Mr Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer.
“It is just six weeks ago that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was in Rikers Island and was charged with an indictment that had the full force of the people behind it. It is so important in this country that people, especially the media, refrain from judgment until the facts are all in.”
18.11pm BST Cyrus Vance says that the case against Mr Strauss-Kahn continues, despite doubts over the alleged victim’s credibility.
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“Our prosecutors from the Manhattan DA’s office will continue their investigation into these alleged crimes and will do so until we have uncovered all relevant facts,” he said, speaking outside New York State Supreme Court.
17.52pm BST On the subject of Mr Strauss-Kahn’s chances in the French presidency, The Times’s Adam Sage in Paris writes: “Is DSK now out of the French Presidential race? In theory he would have to enter the Socialist primary by July 13 and the consensus is that he does have to be in the country. However if momentum does swing behind him, there may be a push for him to enter by proxy.”
17.46pm BST Following the alleged attack, the maid cleaned another room - contrary to what she told the grand jury, Mr Vance says. Mr Thompson has already addressed this point at length.
17.43pm BST The war of post-hearing words continues, as Cyrus Vance says that the maid has admitted lying to the grand jury about what happened followint the alleged attack.
17.34pm BST Despite the removal of most of his bail conditions, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be able to bid for the French presidency. He is not permitted to leave the United States, and his next court appearance is on July 18. The deadline for declaring his presidential candidacy, however, is July 13, and he will not be home in time.
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17.22pm BST The alleged victim will waive her right to anonymity to tell the world what Dominique Strauss-Kahn has done to her, Mr Thompson says.
17.20pm BST More from Mr Brafman: “We ask you and we asked the world not to rush to judgement in this case and now I think you can understand why.”
17.19pm BST “The victim here may have made some mistakes, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a rape victim,” Mr Thompson says.
Answering some of the issues raised in the New York Times this morning, he says that when she made the phone call which was taped, she had no idea that the man she was speaking to was a drug dealer.
Inconsistencies in her asylum application were also another issue, he said.
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17.16pm BST Mr Thompson says that his client has never once deviated from her story despite having had to repeat it multiple times. The claim that sex was consensual was a lie, he says.
“He had pushed her down once, run her down to the ground twice, she was on her knees. When she went outside she did not know what to do. She did not want to lose her job, and she knew that her supervisor was coming upstairs, so she went into another hotel room and started to fix that.”
Having seen Mr Strauss-Kahn leave, she found the supervisor and asked if guests were allowed to do whatever they wanted to the staff. “Oh my god, I know what kind of worker you are,” said the supervisor, who called security. They had the victim re-enact the attack. Then they called the New York City police department.
17.11pm BST Mr Thompson accuses Cyrus Vance, the District Attorney, of being afraid to try the case.
17.09pm BST For anyone used to the British courts, things have taken an odd turn. Speaking outside the courthouse now is the alleged victim’s lawyer, Kenneth P Thompson, who is going through the prosecution’s case in incredibly graphic detail.
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He describes the injuries the victim sustained, and goes through her version of the events in the hotel room. “She was on her knees and he sexually assaulted her.” He describes her running for the door once it was over.
17.06pm BST“Mr Strauss-Kahn could have been in jail for six weeks in a case that in our judgement should not have been brought in the first place,” says Mr Brafman.
“We believed from the beginning that the case was not what it appeared to be, and we are absolutely convinced that today is a first giant step in the right direction, that step will lead to a complete dismissal of the charges.”
16.58pm BST Mr Strauss-Kahn and Anne Sinclair have arrived back at their apartment. Meanwhile, outside the court house, his defence lawyer Benjamin Brafman is praising Judge Obus for his courage in firstly bailing him, then releasing him today.
16.50pm BST “I understand that the circumstances of this case have changed substantially and I agree the risk that he would not be here has receded quite a bit. I release Mr. Strauss-Kahn at his own recognisance,” Justice Michael Obus told the court.
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16.45pm BST The US government is retaining Mr Strauss-Kahn’s travel documents, the judge says. But his cash bond will be returned.
16.43pm BST Mr Strauss-Kahn emerges from the court house, walking slowly past the massed cameras with is wife. They get straight into his car. He is due back in court on July 18.
3.58pm BST Mr Strauss-Kahn has arrived at the court house with his wife, Anne Sinclair.
3.55pm BST The AP news agency is confirming the deal with prosecutors, which just now needs to be signed of by the judge. What is not clear is whether the defence team will try to go further today and get the charges struck out.
3.14pm BST Under the agreement as reported, Mr Strauss-Kahn would no longer be under house arrest but would not get his passport back and could not travel abroad.
He would also get his bail money returned. He posted $1 million cash plus a $5 million bond.
The Frenchman is due in court in little over an hour when he will be asked to give the requisite undertaking. The court might not go into the substance of the case and the allegations now being raised against the hotel maid.
3.07pm BST So what does on his “own recognisance” (or recognizance, in the US) mean? It means that Mr Strauss-Kahn would be released from custody without having to post any bail. It’s the kind of arrangement commonly reached in traffic matters or similar minor crimes and means that you agree that you will show up in court when you’re needed.
3.01pm BST We have some news: Bloomberg news agency is reporting that prosecutors have agreed to free Mr Strauss-Kahn on his “own recognizance”. That would effectively free him from house arrest and is what his lawyers were due to ask for in court.
What that says about the wider prosecution case and the chance of it all collapsing is not yet clear.
2.40pm BST The New York Times has updated its report on the case:
It says a lawyer for the woman, Kenneth Thompson, did not try to rebut the allegations against his client in an e-mail to the newspaper.
“Nothing changes one very important fact, namely, that Dominique Strauss-Kahn violently sexually assaulted the victim inside of that hotel room at the Sofitel,” he said.
2.15pm BST Even though there was little advanced notice of the hearing, there are already dozens of reporters and TV crews jostling for position at New York State Supreme Court, where Judge Michael J. Obus will be presiding.
It’s far from clear what could come of it, though. It could be, as Mr Strauss-Kahn’s lawers have said, a simple bail hearing which could see the lifting of his house arrest.
Equally, prosecutors may have to admit that their witness is so tainted that the case can no longer go ahead, even on a lesser, misdemeanour charge. In that case, Mr Strauss-Kahn could conceivably walk free as early as today.
One law enforcement source told the New York Post today that she could not be put on the stand. “”She’d be a flawed witness,” the source said.
2pm BST Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s latest court appearance.
The “bail hearing”, due at 11.30am local time (4.30pm UK), was only announced last night and there was some confusion as to why it had suddenly been called. Then the New York Times reported, explosively, that the case against the former IMF managing director was close to collapse.
Mr Strauss-Kahn stands accused of raping a chambermaid in his suite at the Sofitel hotel on May 14. He was arrested a few hours later aboard an Air France flight to Paris as it prepared to take to the runway at John F Kennedy airport.
Accordintg to the New York Times, investigators have found “major holes” in the credibility of the maid who accused the Frenchman of rape.
Although forensic examination offered clear evidence of sexual contact - which Mr Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers say was consensual - law enforcement officials told the newspaper that they believe the woman has been lying repeatedly. They also suspect that she may have links to drug-dealing, money-laundering and immigration offences.
Key to the case appears to be a telephone conversation the alleged victim had the day after Mr Strauss-Kahna arrest with a drug dealer serving a jail term in which she was said to have discussed how she could cash in on the affair. The conversation was caught on tape.
“The DA’s office has concluded she materially misled the grand jury,” a source close to the case told the New York Daily News. “The case has gone to hell. It’s a wreck.”
Our report, with reaction from French political circles, is here.