HispanicBusiness

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn reached a financial agreement on Monday with the New York hotel maid who has accused him of sexual assault.

Lawyers on behalf of Nafissatou Diallo and Strauss-Kahn met in New York State Supreme Court in Bronx Monday afternoon, and updated the judge on the financial settlement that the two sides have reached.

Diallo, the hotel maid who appeared in court as the judge ordered, said after the brief hearing outside the courthouse to the media: "thanks for everybody who supported me, with the settlement I will move on with my life."

"Ms. Diallo is a strong and courageous woman who never lost faith in our system of justice. With this resolution, she can now move on with her life and we thank everyone for their support and prayers", said Kenneth Thompson, Diallo's lawyer.

Strauss-Kahn was not required to appear for Monday's hearing, and his lawyers, William Taylor III and Amit Mehta, told Xinhua in an emailed statement: "On behalf of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, we are pleased to have arrived at a resolution of this matter. We are grateful to Judge McKeon whose patience and forbearance allowed this agreement to be formulated."

However, details of the deal reached by the two parties have been kept confidential, which the insiders say could run into millions of dollars in return for Nafissatou Diallo's dropping of her civil lawsuit against the former head of the International Monetary Fund.

The lawsuit stemmed from last May's hotel encounter in mid-town Manhattan, and the initial criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn's attempt to rape Diallo have forced him to resign from the IMF and shattered his dream to pursue the French presidency.

Prosecutors had dropped the criminal case because of Diallo's "credibility issues", saying the accuser had lied about events surrounding the alleged attack. A few weeks before the criminal case was dismissed, Diallo had filed the civil lawsuit against Strauss- Kahn, who filed a countersuit afterwards against her, claiming defamation.

According to reports, if another French "pimping" case is dropped and Diallo ends her civil lawsuit, Strauss-Kahn would be free to pursue his consultancy work and could even consider a return to public life in France, where he has been shunned since the Diallo scandal.

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