Court date set in hotel maid's suit vs. Strauss-Kahn
By Associated Press
The criminal case against the former International Monetary Fund leader was dropped after prosecutors said his accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, had credibility problems.
NEW YORK — A court date has been set for next week to discuss a New York City hotel maid's sexual assault lawsuit against former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver says the hearing will be held 10 a.m. Monday in the Bronx.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said Friday that the two sides had discussed resolving the case.
The suit stems from a May 2011 hotel-suite encounter. It also spurred criminal charges, forced Strauss-Kahn's resignation from the IMF and cut off his potential candidacy for the French presidency. He said whatever happened with the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, was consensual.
The criminal case was dropped after prosecutors said his accuser had credibility problems. She said she always told the truth about the encounter.
Strauss-Kahn called her suit defamatory and countersued for $1 million.
Strauss-Kahn and Diallo reportedly reached a preliminary agreement Nov. 30 to settle the civil lawsuit.
U.S. and France-based lawyers for Strauss-Kahn, who was once tipped to become French president, on Friday acknowledged a deal was under discussion, but said it had not yet been finalized.
"The parties have discussed a resolution but there has been no settlement. Mr. Strauss-Kahn will continue to defend the charges if no resolution can be reached," Strauss-Kahn's U.S. lawyers, William Taylor and Amit Mehta, said in a statement.
"Media reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has agreed to pay six million dollars to settle the civil case are flatly false."
French daily Le Monde, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, said he and Diallo would meet a judge in New York on Dec. 7 to sign a $6 million settlement and close an affair that ended the Frenchman's International Monetary Fund career and wrecked his presidential ambitions.
"The discussions have been going on for weeks, months. The agreement should be confirmed at the start of next week," Michele Saban, a friend of Strauss-Kahn who saw him recently, told Reuters in Paris. She could not confirm the sum involved.
"We are moving towards the end of a tragedy," she said, adding that Diallo had always been open to negotiating a settlement despite reticence from her lawyers.
Le Monde said 63-year-old Strauss-Kahn planned to take out a bank loan for $3 million and would be lent the other $3 million by his wife Anne Sinclair, despite the fact the couple separated in the summer and now live on different sides of Paris.
