Strauss-Kahn case 'may be dropped'

The letter said the purpose was to discuss what would happen in court the next day, and said prosecutors would only meet the woman at 3pm.

"Should she not be available or should she fail to attend, I will assume that she does not wish to take advantage of this opportunity," wrote the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Artie McConnell.

Thompson told the New York Times that he thinks prosecutors would not have asked for the meeting unless they planned to give her bad news about the case.

He told the newspaper: "If they were not going to dismiss the charges, there would be no need to meet with her. They would just go to court the next day to say: 'We're going to proceed with the case'."

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office declined to comment.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested during a May visit to New York City after a housekeeper at a Manhattan hotel told police he attacked her when she arrived to clean his suite.

The arrest prompted Strauss-Kahn to resign from the International Monetary Fund, and disrupted his political career in France, where he was seen as a probable candidate for president.

But in July, prosecutors said publicly that the accuser, Nafissatou Diallo had lied to them about her personal history, and about some critical details of the case.

She also admitted lying to US immigration officials about her life in Guinea, her native country, when she applied for political asylum in 2003.

A law enforcement official also said prosecutors discovered that, a day after the alleged attack, Diallo had called a friend to talk about the incident, and that during that call she had mentioned Strauss-Kahn's wealth.

The district attorney's office then agreed to relax the conditions of Strauss-Kahn's bail, allowing him to be freed from house arrest.