Strauss-Kahn lawyers deny $6m deal with hotel maid

The lawyers of Dominique Strauss-Kahn denied rumours on Friday that the disgraced IMF chief had reached a $6 million out of court settlement with Nafissatou Diallo, the New York hotel maid who accused him of sexually assaulting her last year.

By FRANCE 24 (text)

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has discussed an out of court settlement with the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a luxury New York City hotel last May, but has yet to reach a settlement agreement, it emerged on Friday.

French media reported on Friday morning that Strauss-Kahn had agreed to hand over $6 million (4.6 million euros) to Nafissatou Diallo, but his lawyers, William Taylor and Amit Mehta, denied the reports in a brief statement later in the day.

"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," Taylor and Mehta said. "Media reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has agreed to pay six million dollars to settle the civil case are flatly false."

Diallo's legal team did not comment.

According to Le Monde, Strauss-Kahn was to raise the money by borrowing $3 million from a bank and the rest from his estranged wife, Anne Sinclair, a former newsreader who inherited a fortune from her art dealer father.

No payout for ‘opportunist’

Until now, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers repeatedly said they would not agree to a pay-off deal, while Diallo's legal team insisted she wanted her day in court to confront her alleged abuser.

Diallo's allegation of attempted rape in May 2011 triggered a stunning fall from grace for Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as likely to win the 2012 French presidential election against then president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

After Strauss-Kahn's 2011 arrest, the Manhattan district attorney's office decided to prosecute the disgraced IMF chief on sexual assault charges, but within six weeks dropped the case, saying Diallo lied about parts of the incident and suggesting that her testimony would not stand up before a jury.

Diallo then sued Strauss-Kahn in New York civil court. He called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued her for $1 million (€770,000).

The prominent Frenchman also faced a string of separate sex-related investigations upon his return home. On Wednesday, a French court said it would rule December 19 on whether to proceed with a probe into Strauss-Kahn's involvement in a prostitution ring.

Strauss-Kahn`s lawyers have repeatedly said they would not settle out of court with Diallo, branding her an opportunist. Diallo's lawyers have also insisted several times that her client is only interested in facing her attacker in court.

(FRANCE 24 with wires)