Strauss-Kahn and maid settle assault lawsuit

Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a New York City hotel maid have signed a settlement of her sexual assault lawsuit, a judge says.

Strauss-Kahn and maid settle assault lawsuit

Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a New York City hotel maid have signed a settlement of her sexual assault lawsuit, a judge says.

Terms of the deal are confidential.

The US lawsuit stemmed from a May 2011 hotel suite encounter.

It also triggered criminal charges, forced Mr Strauss-Kahn’s resignation from the IMF and cut off his potential candidacy for the French presidency.

The criminal case was dropped after prosecutors said his accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, had credibility problems. She said she always told the truth about the encounter.

Mr Strauss-Kahn called her suit defamatory and countersued for $1m.

His lawyers acknowledged late last month there had been settlement talks, though they dismissed as “flatly false” a French newspaper report that Mr Strauss-Kahn had agreed to pay $6m. Ms Diallo’s lawyers declined to comment.

Both their lives have been upended since the day in May 2011 that she reported he forced her to perform oral sex and tried to rape her after she went to clean his room. He said the encounter was consensual.

Mr Strauss-Khan did not attend today’s New York hearing. Ms Diallo looked composed and resolute as the deal was announced.

“Ms Diallo is ready to move on,” her lawyer Kenneth Thompson said afterward.

Mr Strauss-Khan’s lawyer, William W. Taylor III, thanked the judge.

Ms Diallo, 33, a Guinean immigrant and widowed mother of a teenage girl, was whisked into protective custody with her daughter for weeks in a hotel. She hasn’t returned to the job she held for three years at the Sofitel New York; she is on workers’ compensation, the hotel chain says. Her lawyers have said Mr Strauss-Kahn tore a ligament in her shoulder, which he disputes.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 63, was arrested and charged with attempted rape and other crimes and resigned from his IMF job. He soon found himself recast from promising, if philandering, French presidential contender to transcontinental sexual suspect. Since Ms Diallo came forward, other sexual assault and prostitution allegations have emerged against him.

Though some were withdrawn or deemed too old for prosecutors to pursue, he faces aggravated pimping charges related to a suspected prostitution ring run from a French luxury hotel. He says he attended “libertine” gatherings but wasn’t aware anyone was paid for sex. A French court is due to rule on December 19 on his bid to get those charges thrown out.

Adding further turmoil to his personal life, Mr Strauss-Kahn and his wife, journalist Ann Sinclair, have separated. Mr Strauss-Kahn has been trying to rebuild his professional stature by giving speeches at international conferences and reportedly setting up a consulting company in Paris.

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