NEW YORK (AP) - DNA taken from former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn matches material on the uniform of a hotel maid who says he sexually assaulted her, two people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.
The two people would not describe the material found on the shirt but said DNA matched a sample from Strauss-Kahn, who submitted to testing after his arrest more than a week ago. He denies the maid's allegations.
Testing was being performed on other items, said the two people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke to the AP on Monday on condition of anonymity.
During their investigation, authorities cut out a piece of carpet and swabbed sinks and other surfaces in his hotel room. Investigators told the AP they believed the carpet in the hotel room may contain Strauss-Kahn's semen, spat out after an episode of forced oral sex by the maid.
The forensic evidence is the first to link Strauss-Kahn to the woman - and it's also on track with what his lawyers have suggested would be his defense.
Strauss-Kahn's attorney Benjamin Brafman declined to comment on Monday. At a court hearing last week, he told a judge that forensic evidence developed in the investigation "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter" - leading to speculation that Strauss-Kahn's defense would argue that it was consensual.
The one-time French presidential contender has been charged with a criminal sex act, attempted rape and sexual abuse and is free on $1 million bail, under house arrest at a lower Manhattan apartment. He's been accused of attacking the 32-year-old West African immigrant on May 14 in his luxury suite at the Sofitel hotel near Manhattan's Times Square. His lawyers say he's innocent.