By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Dominique
Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid who accused the former
International Monetary Fund chief of sexually assaulting her are
set to appear in a New York state court on Monday and may
announce a settlement to her civil lawsuit against him.
The court date comes less than two weeks after a source
familiar with the matter said the two sides had reached a
preliminary agreement to settle the case.
The source said details of the settlement are not likely to
be made public at the hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 2
p.m. in Bronx Supreme Court before Justice Douglas McKeon.
Meanwhile, news crews gathered in front of Strauss-Kahn's
Paris apartment, where he emerged Monday morning in a winter
coat, jeans and a blue dress shirt and asked reporters to leave
him alone.
"Are you going to keep filming me for long?" he said,
appearing irritated at the presence of television cameras.
Strauss-Kahn was not required by the judge to appear
personally in New York. The judge's order does direct his
accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, to be present in the event a
settlement is reached.
The agreement would end a legal saga that began when Diallo,
33, told police that Strauss-Kahn attacked her in his suite at
the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan on May 14, 2011. Her suit alleged
that a naked Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom in his
$3,000-a-night suite and forced her to perform oral sex.
The scandal forced Strauss-Kahn to resign his post as head
of one of the world's most influential international finance
organizations and wrecked his hopes of running for president in
his native France.
Prosecutors initially expressed confidence in the evidence,
including DNA that showed a sexual encounter. But they dropped
the case in August 2011 after developing concerns about Diallo's
credibility, including what they said were inconsistencies in
her account of what happened immediately following the incident.
Accusers in such cases often hide from the media glare, and
many media outlets, including Reuters, protect their identities
by not revealing their names.
But Diallo, the daughter of an imam from Guinea, broke her
silence in July 2011, while the criminal investigation was still
active, revealing her identity in interviews to Newsweek and ABC
News.
She filed her civil lawsuit just weeks before the charges
were dismissed, claiming he forced her to perform oral sex and
caused her physical and emotional damage.
Strauss-Kahn, 63, filed a countersuit earlier this year
against Diallo for defamation. He has said the sexual encounter
was consensual but has admitted it was a "moral error."
The resolution of the civil case brings Strauss-Kahn closer
to ending his legal troubles, which have persisted since his
return to France after the initial incident.
Strauss-Kahn is awaiting a decision by a French court on his
request to halt an inquiry to determine whether he should stand
trial on pimping charges related to sex parties attended by him
and by prostitutes.
He has quietly begun to resume his career in recent months,
delivering speeches at private conferences and setting up a
consulting firm in Paris.
(Additional reporting by Nicholas Vinocur)
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