Strauss-Kahn settles sex assault case with maid

Former IMF leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a New York City hotel maid have signed a settlement of her sexual assault lawsuit, a judge said yesterday.

Terms of the deal are confidential.

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

It also triggered criminal charges, forced 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.

Strauss-Kahn called her suit defamatory and counter-sued for $1m (€770,000).

His lawyers acknowledged late last month that there had been settlement talks, though they dismissed as “flatly false” a French newspaper report that Strauss-Kahn had agreed to pay €6m.

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

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

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.

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.