Former IMF chief settles lawsuit by hotel maid

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has settled a lawsuit by a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault, according to BBC News.

Details of the deal, said to have been struck at the Bronx Supreme Court in recent days, are expected to be subject to a confidentiality agreement.

Strauss-Kahn was held in New York in May 2011 after Nafissatou Diallo said he assaulted her in his hotel suite. Prosecutors later dropped charges amid concerns about her credibility.

The 33-year-old then opened a civil suit for undisclosed damages against the former French politician. Strauss-Kahn, 63, called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued.

Her case opened the floodgates to a slew of others sexual allegations against Strauss-Kahn, leading him to resign from his IMF post. It was widely seen as having ruined his chance of becoming the socialist presidential candidate in his native France.

A court date between Strauss-Kahn and Diallo's lawyers is expected next week, although a day has not been set. She told police that when she arrived to clean his luxury Manhattan hotel room, he forced her to perform oral sex on him. He admitted to a "moral failing", but said it was consensual.

Earlier this year Strauss-Kahn separated from his wife of some 21 years, Anne Sinclair.