Strauss-Kahn Set to Pay \$6m To Maid: Report

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is reported to be close to paying \$6m (£3.74m) to settle out of court with the Manhattan maid who accused him of sexual assault.

According to the New York Times , quoting unidentified sources "with knowledge of the matter," the 63-year-old French politician and the hotel worker, Nafissatou Diallo, have "quietly reached an agreement to settle" her lawsuit.

France's Le Monde newspaper later reported that Mr Strauss-Kahn told friends he will raise the money by borrowing half from a bank and the rest from his estranged wife, Anne Sinclair, a former newsreader who inherited a fortune from her art dealer father.

Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyer William Taylor said the Le Monde report was "dramatically inaccurate".

He said negotiations were ongoing, adding: "I am hoping that we will have a signed agreement in a few days."

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who had been widely touted as a likely challenger to then president Nicolas Sarkozy, suffered a stunning fall from grace following his arrest at a New York hotel last year on sex assault charges.

He then faced a string of separate sex-related investigations in France.

Ms Diallo had sued Mr Strauss-Kahn in New York civil court after prosecutors threw out criminal charges, saying the maid's sex assault case would not stand up before a jury.

The former IMF chief was arrested as he was about to take a flight back to Europe in May 2011.

He later conceded that there had been a sexual encounter in his room at the Sofitel hotel, but insisted that it had been consensual.

The subsequent court proceedings and a brief spell in New York's tough Rikers Island detention centre publicly humiliated the Frenchman.

But the Manhattan District Attorney's office eventually faced its own embarrassment as they admitted that their case was falling part, with the hotel maid having been caught lying over several points.

Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyers repeatedly said they would not agree to a pay-off deal, and even tried unsuccessfully to claim diplomatic immunity.