IMF chief resigns, denies sex assault charges

WASHINGTON – France's Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Thursday as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but maintained he was innocent of the sexual assault charges against him.

"It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF," he said in a statement.

"I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me," the statement added.

Strauss-Kahn, a leading French politician, is jailed in New York awaiting a grand jury decision on whether to indict him on charges of the alleged sexual assault and attempted rape of a 32-year-old Manhattan hotel chambermaid.