30 Nov 2012

Former IMF head settling sex claim - reports

11:05 pm on 30 November 2012

The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is reported to have reached a preliminary agreement to settle a civil lawsuit by a chamber maid.

She says he sexually assaulted her in a New York hotel last year, the BBC reports.

No details have been disclosed but lawyers for the two sides are due to appear before a judge next week.

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.

Mr 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.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 63, called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued.

Her case opened the floodgates to a slew of others sexual allegations against Mr 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 Mr Strauss-Kahn and Ms Diallo's lawyers is expected next week, although a day has not been set, reports the New York Times.

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 Mr Strauss-Kahn separated from his wife of some 21 years, Anne Sinclair.