WRAPUP 18-Handcuffed IMF chief charged in sex assault case

* Police escort him from jail cell, handcuffed and drained

* Strauss-Kahn accused of attempted rape of hotel maid

* France election race rocked by scandal

* IMF leadership in turmoil during euro zone crisis

By Basil Katz and Edith Honan

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Handcuffed and haggard, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was escorted by detectives from a New York police station on Sunday night in his first public appearance since being accused of trying to rape a hotel maid.

Strauss-Kahn, the early favorite in France's presidential election, had his hands cuffed behind his back and a strained look on his face as two detectives led him to a waiting police sedan in front of a battery of television cameras.

He was due to make his first court appearance on Monday after submitting to a forensic medical exam with police looking for scratches or other evidence of his alleged assault on a New York hotel maid on Saturday afternoon.

The charges have blown the French election wide open and thrown the International Monetary Fund into turmoil.

A charismatic figure, Strauss-Kahn led the IMF through the 2007-09 global financial meltdown and has been central in galvanizing Europe to tackle its debt woes.

But he now faces charges of a criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape, and could face a humiliating end to his public career and presidential ambitions.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

More on the arrest: [ID:nLDE74E04O]

Analysis on IMF and euro zone: [ID:nLDE74E083]

French reaction factbox: [ID:nLDE74E06E]

Breaking views: link.reuters.com/wun59r

Graphic: link.reuters.com/kun59r

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

The euro slid to a six-week low against the dollar and a two-month trough against the Japanese yen when markets opened in Asia on Monday as the news of Strauss-Kahn's arrest added uncertainty to aid for Greece and other indebted euro zone countries. [ID:nL4E7GG04Z]

Strauss-Kahn wore a black overcoat, blue dress shirt and black dress slacks on Sunday night, his hair neatly parted. He kept his eyes straight ahead, avoiding looking at the cameras.

"Our client willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination tonight," said William Taylor, the IMF chief's Washington-based lawyer. "He's tired but he's fine."

Police would not say where and when Straus-Kahn was subjected to the physical exam, which investigators requested after a 32-year-old maid at the elegant Sofitel hotel near Times Square said the IMF chief, naked, sprang on her from the bathroom of his hotel suite, chased her down a hall, pulled her into the bedroom and assaulted her.

She told police she broke free but that he dragged her into the bathroom where he forced himself on her again. The woman identified him from a police lineup that included five other men on Sunday, a police spokesman said.

Defense lawyers said Strauss-Kahn would plead not guilty at Manhattan Criminal Court when he appears there on Monday.

Strauss-Kahn's wife, French television personality Anne Sinclair, jumped to her husband's defense, saying she did not believe the accusations "for a single second," and other supporters in France cautioned against a rush to judgment.

Police say Strauss-Kahn left his $3,000-a-day suite at the Sofitel hotel near Times Square in such a hurry after the alleged assault that he left his mobile phone behind.

After he called the hotel from John F. Kennedy airport asking about his phone, police located him on the first-class section of an Air France flight bound for Paris. He was pulled from the flight minutes before takeoff, taken back into New York City and charged.