The tweet that broke the DSK story - How did Raphael Pinet know so soon?

I posted this information in the IMF DSK thread, but I thought it deserved it's own thread.


Okay, so Raphael Pinet, who is an outspoken critic and rival of DSK's, tweets "A buddy in the United States told me that police arrested #DSK in a NYC hotel an hour ago.". He tweeted this at least an hour before any media outlet reported the news. But here's the thing, how did this 'buddy', who Pinet says works at the same hotel as the alleged attack,know about the arrest, when it was made not at the hotel, but at the airport?


So this friend somehow knows about an arrest made miles away at JFK from his position working at the hotel, but then mistakenly reports the arrest was made not at the airport (Which he couldnt have known about) but at the hotel.

He said he was in Paris when he learned of the affair on Saturday, 17 minutes after Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s 4:40 p.m. arrest, as he chatted on Facebook with a friend in New York.

Wow, so 17 minutes after the arrest at the airport, this friend, who is working at the hotel tells Pinet via facebook that DSK was arrested. 17 minutes! How did this friend find that out?

At 4:59 p.m., Mr. Pinet tweeted: “A buddy in the United States told me that police arrested #DSK in an NYC hotel an hour ago.” One of his Twitter followers, Arnaud Dassier, a Sarkozy campaign worker, spotted the tweet and messaged Mr. Pinet for more details.

For 'more details'? So Pinet knew even more details, apparently enough that he knew it was 'serious"? How did he know all that just minutes after the arrest?

Raphael Pinet, who is a teacher at CEGEP St. Laurent, said he didn't want to make any other comment about the incident.

Yeah, I bet he doesn't. Sounds like he may have already said too much.

www.theglobeandmail.com...
I searched for Pinet's twitter account/feed, but couldn't find it. Can anyone else?

raphael's facebook page: fr-fr.facebook.com...

On his blog, Jonathan Pinet said he learned about Strauss-Kahn's arrest while chatting on Facebook with a friend in New York. The friend knew someone who worked at the hotel where the alleged attack on the chambermaid happened. Pinet tweeted: "A buddy in the United States told me that police arrested #DSK in a NYC hotel an hour ago." The New York Post became the first media outlet to report on the arrest about an hour after the tweet.

Read more: www.montrealgazette.com...

From the get-go I had a funny feeling about this story.

A high-ranking member of TPTB gets popped for sexual assault, by a maid at a hotel?

After reading wcitizen's post on the possible reasons behind his arrest, and now this, I'm more convinced then ever that something is quite fishy about this whole dust-up.

Seems to me he was making some waves and the folks calling the shots most certainly do not appreciate "wave-makers".

Good find incrediblelousminds!

reply to post by Hessling


Yes, there is indeed a laundry list of problems with this story as reported. The disinfo artists on ATS saying anyone who questions the MSM's story is rape sympathizer is interesting too.

This little bit about this tweet seems like a real eyebrow raiser. I havent seen much new on it today, although i'm still looking around. A known political rival having access to word of the arrest 17 minutes after it happened, even though his source would not have been able to know about the arrest at that time seems highly suspect.

Stay tuned...

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


We are reqired to notify the Embassy if the person we arreest is not a US citizen. This guy, in addition to being French, works for the United Nations, which brings in another level of notification that one of their employees is arrested.

Diplomatic protocol requires a prompt notification.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by incrediblelousminds

 

We are reqired to notify the Embassy if the person we arreest is not a US citizen. This guy, in addition to being French, works for the United Nations, which brings in another level of notification that one of their employees is arrested.

Diplomatic protocol requires a prompt notification.

Okaaaayyy... But Pinet's story is he was chatting with a facebook friend who worked at the same hotel who told him. It's all outlined quite clearly in the OP, actually.

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


It is.. including all of the info that states Pinot was not part of any conspiracy plot. The one thing that does not seem to be clear is the timeline you guys re talking about,. The time given for pinots tweet... Was it Eastern time or was it French time?

The Police are going to be at the Hotel to process the guys room for any evidence of the alledged crime, regardless if it occured there or not. The Police will speak with the hotel staff, and will explain why they are there, and any hotel worker can put 2 and 2 together if they view the booking information and payment.

Also, as with any breaking news story, initial timelines are going to change as more confirmed information comes out.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by incrediblelousminds

 

It is.. including all of the info that states Pinot was not part of any conspiracy plot.

MmmHmmm. If by 'all the info' you mean a statement from his father.

The one thing that does not seem to be clear is the timeline you guys re talking about,. The time given for pinots tweet... Was it Eastern time or was it French time?

The tweet is reported as being made 17 minutes after the official time of the arrest.

The Police are going to be at the Hotel to process the guys room for any evidence of the alledged crime, regardless if it occured there or not. The Police will speak with the hotel staff, and will explain why they are there, and any hotel worker can put 2 and 2 together if they view the booking information and payment.

The police routinely tell random employees at a business the specifics of a case they are actively investigating?

Also, you are missing a key point. The information was tweeted 17 minutes after the arrest, even though the alleged 'friend' worked at the hotel and the arrest was made at the airport miles away.

How did this "friend" know the arrest was made if he is miles away?

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


When the police are conducting a search, a warrant is provided to staff. The staff can figure out who occupied the room. Since we dont have the exact facebook conversation, we arent sure what exactly was said.

The plane was on the ground, and peoples cell phones are still working there. Maybe someone on the plane shot the hotel guy a message? Maybe the hotel guy told the police the suspect had already left for the airport and the cops on scene radioed that info in for port authority police to stop the plane and remove him.

There are numerous ways this info gets out, and one possible way is a conspiracy. However, its just that, one possible way. Do we know if the guy was traveling alone? Did he have staff with him? Did he know anyone on the flight?

Lots of questions to be answered before blaming this on a policital conspiracy.

You would have made a great investigative reporter Incrediblelousminds.

This is indeed one of the many details that makes this case so suspicious.

If he was set up (and I think he was) hopefully his team's investigative skills are this strong.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by incrediblelousminds

 

When the police are conducting a search, a warrant is provided to staff. The staff can figure out who occupied the room. Since we dont have the exact facebook conversation, we arent sure what exactly was said.

The plane was on the ground, and peoples cell phones are still working there. Maybe someone on the plane shot the hotel guy a message? Maybe the hotel guy told the police the suspect had already left for the airport and the cops on scene radioed that info in for port authority police to stop the plane and remove him.

There are numerous ways this info gets out, and one possible way is a conspiracy. However, its just that, one possible way. Do we know if the guy was traveling alone? Did he have staff with him? Did he know anyone on the flight?

Lots of questions to be answered before blaming this on a policital conspiracy.

I appreciate your interest in this information, but it would appear you havent even read the OP or the linked articles. Pinet claims he got a facebook message from a friend at the hotel who said DSK had been arrested AT THE HOTEL Pinet then tweets this information just 17 minutes after the arrest is made at the airport.

He ATTRIBUTES THE INFORMATION as coming from a friend at the hotel. Not at the airport. Hehad inside information of an arrest made just minutes after it happened, even though his claimed source was miles away from the arrest. HE 'broke' the story about an hour before any other news agency had the info. Are you intentionally misunderstanding the information presented?

I will add a few corrections to the OP. The current story is very different from what was first reported as per usual, inaccuracies are not OP's fault.
Careful, it's very much politically charged. Knives are out, French domestic politics stink too.

The young man is named Jonathan Pinet. He is a nobody, a young militant for UMP, Sarkozy's party.

His blog (Tweeter link on the left)

According to his blog, at 16.57 pm EDT (22.57 pm, french time), he receives a message from a friend in the USA via facebook chat saying that DSK was arrested in a hotel (which is wrong, he was arrested at the airport). His friend knows it from a friend who works at the hotel.
At 16.59 pm EDT, he tweets the infamous tweet.
DSK was arrested at JFK airport by 16.45 pm EDT.

So he knows a friend of a friend who happens to work at the New York Sofitel. Not that far-fetched. Sofitel is owned by Accor, a French company. I guess that's why DSK was staying at this hotel, he must have an Accor VIP card or something. A business or social relation is a possibility. If we follow this line of thinking, the friend is probably not a low employee but a manager who was kept informed of the events in progress. Imagine the mess amongst the managers, it's the biggest crisis they will ever have.
This begs the question, did the friend of a friend know DSK will be staying at the hotel and did he tell someone ?
This friend should be questionned by detectives but will they follow this lead ?

But this is nothing. This is far from being the juicy part

Pinet, a young UMP militant has a friend of a friend who works at the Sofitel hotel. Coincidence !

At 17.17 pm EDT, Arnaud Dassier re-tweets 'Apparently, DSK in NYC, it's a big big deal'.
Dassier was following Pinet's tweet for a few days. Pinet denies they know each other personally.

Arnaud Dassier was Sarkozy's webcampaign manager in 2007. He is a co-founder of the news site Atlantico.fr.
He is in the middle of a second controversy in a month. Newspaper Le Parisien published a picture without caption late april of DSK standing near a very expensive Porsche car (see the pic here).
The picture is from AFP, taken with a telephoto lens during a private trip in Paris, the author is anonymous.
Atlantico is accused of malicious intent by tweeting it with nasty comments, creating an internet buzz and making believe it was DSK's car. In the trash can is where you will find the political debate.

In the space of a few weeks, Dassier is linked to two hurtful events to DSK's reputation, that's why he is accused of being part of a possible plot. Realistically, he is a light-weight, a pen pusher. But there really are attempts at smearing DSK lately, possibly even coordinated.
In April, DSK hinted at French journalists in off comments that he was expecting low blows naming three weaknesses including women. Was he tipped ? Or warned ?

As I was saying, initial information can be goofy... I would probably not rule out the possibility of French foreign spies being employed in a location where UN bigwigs would stay, or have a person on payroll at the hotel who looks for info to pass back.

Not out of the realm of possibility in the least.

Contrary to the accusation that I did not read the articles (which I did), I am pointing out other possibilities of how the fino could have gotten out. While I dont mind a good conspuiracy theory, people on this site seem to go for the paranoid schitzo theories while ignoring other possibilities.

reply to post by Manouche


Yes, I suspect Pinet's tweet was an accident. He, for some reason, appears to have received sensitive information just minutes after it occurred. I think this possibly points to the flickers of evidence of a set up. The information was likely not supposed to slip out like that. The fact he said the arrest occurred at the Hotel makes it sound, to me, like they expected DSK to be caught at the hotel. There really is no good explanation given so far how he could have gotten that information from a friend at the hotel just minutes after an arrest at the airport.

So either Pinet lied about his source, or Pinet was tweeting information he had been prepped to tweet, knowing the arrest was imminent but not knowing the specifics of location he tweeted 'hotel' instead of airport.

There is no reasonable explanation for how this 'friend' who works at the hotel would have known the arrest was made miles away from his place at work, just minutes after the arrest. The story, as told by Pinet, CAN'T BE TRUE, can it?

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


You are right, it doesn't really add up. I missed it. Some details are lacking or need to be corrected.

Le Monde's website says they have the information that the 'source' works at the Sofitel restaurant.

Of course, Pinet refuses to answer the press questions. He probably knows nothing anyway.
How did the source know ? Has the source heard DSK was looked for and thought he was already arrested ? Maybe it's only a mistake. Hard to tell without more specifics.

reply to post by Manouche


And that's the thing. The fact Pinet wont answer some very simple and benign questions makes it appear even more suspect. He easily could have cleared this up with a reasonable explanation. Instead, he has his dad talk to the media saying he's not part of a 'conspiracy'.

I'm not buying it. Anyone find his twitter account yet?

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


There is a link to his tweeter's on his blog.

He probably said all he can say, he doesn't know more and doesn't want to involve his friend. He went from anonymous student to making the news front page in a few hours. It's quite understandable why he wants to be left alone now. He is in a nightmare situation way above his control.

reply to post by Manouche


got a link? I'm not seeing it immediately. ETA: oh, right here thanks: jonathanpinet.over-blog.com...

yeh, I agree Pint is in over his head.Which makes me believe he may realize he was used as a pawn in a game he is only now understanding is much, MUCH bigger than him.

Like I said in the first thread about this guy, he stepped on someone's toes
and now they are stomping him into a mudhole.

I think he knows who's boss now though.

Perhaps it is an issue with translation, but on Pinet's blog, he is claiming the tweet was "Très prudemment, je tweete à 22h59 « un pote aux Etats-Unis vient de me rapporter que #DSK aurait été arrêté par la police à NYC il y a une heure " which translates as "a friend in the U.S. has me back as # DSK was reportedly arrested by police in NYC an hour ago. "

Of course, this is a significant change from the ACTUAL tweet reported to say he was arrested at the hotel. And yet it STILL doesn't explain how this friend, who works at the hotel, would know of the arrest miles away at JFK just MINUTES after it occurred.

I mean, he could have just said a 'friend at the airport' told me, which would make sense, BUT HE DIDN'T. e said it was a friend at the hotel, even though the friend at the hotel COULD NOT HAVE KNOWN about the arrest miles away at JFK.



So why is Raphael Pinet lying on his blog about the wording of his tweet when all one has to do is look at his twitter account?

On his newest blog entry he says the tweet was "a friend in the U.S. has me back as # DSK was reportedly arrested by police in NYC an hour ago. " even though the original wording was: "A buddy in the United States told me that police arrested #DSK in a NYC hotel an hour ago."



Here's the ORIGINAL tweet:



Pint's twitter feed (infrench) twitter.com...#!/j_pinet


I think there is a strong likelihood that Pinet knew of a set-up of DSK, and was supposed to tweet the exact wording about DSK being arrested at the Hotel. The set-up was likely to have supposed to have happened at the Hotel, which is why that's what he tweeted. He screwed up, which is why he is now backtracking and trying to change the wording of the Tweet (which is still available for public view). So he's lying on his blog. A bold faced lie. He knows something.

reply to post by Reaching


Perhaps I already am?

Thanks for your interest. The fact that he is now trying change the wording on his blog of the tweet merely adds to the fishy smell around this.