NEW YORK: A hearing in the civil case of disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been set for December 10, after reports he will settle with the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault. “If the case is settled, this will be announced in open court on that day,” Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon said. The hearing is set for 1900 GMT. McKeon said he expects the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, to be present, and for Strauss-Kahn to skip the proceedings.
If Strauss-Kahn, 63, and Diallo, 33, agree on the still undisclosed terms of the settlement, the one-time favourite for the French presidency would put to an end his sordid 18-month legal battle in the United States. Strauss-Kahn’s attorney William Taylor said on Friday that negotiations were ongoing but refused to give details of any pay-off.
He called a report in France’s Le Monde newspaper that Strauss-Kahn was ready to pay Diallo $6m if she drops her civil suit “dramatically inaccurate”. Until now, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers repeatedly said they would not agree to a deal and called Diallo a gold digger.
Diallo’s allegation of attempted rape in May 2011 triggered a stunning fall from grace for Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as close to announcing he would run in an upcoming French presidential election. Criminal charges were quickly brought, and then thrown out when Manhattan prosecutors said Diallo’s testimony wouldn’t stand up in court.
AFP
