THE NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA), LE PARISIEN, LE FIGARO, LE MONDE (France)
Worldcrunch
NEW YORK – Dominique Stauss-Kahn and the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault in New York last year have reached a settlement in the lawsuit she brought against him, people with knowledge of the matter said Thursday, reports The New York Times.
This deal would put an end to the infamous case that forced Strauss-Kahn’s resignation as head of the International Monetary Fund and ended his French presidential ambitions.
It should be finalized next week as lawyers for the plaintiff, Nafissatou Diallo, and Mr. Strauss-Kahn are expected to appear before the judge sometime next week or shortly thereafter, reports the Wall Street Journal. No official court date has been scheduled.
Details of the deal are expected to be subject to a confidentiality agreement but sources close to Strauss-Kahn say the maid could receive as much $6 million from the former IMF head, reports Le Monde.
Photo Guillaume Paumier
The head of the French Socialist Party, Harlem Désir, praised the settlement, noting that "the procedure had been painful for everyone," reports Le Parisien. "If this case can come to end, we are happy for him," he said.
Most French media outlets underlined the differences between the French and the U.S. justice systems, stressing that "90% of civil cases end up with financial agreements," reports Le Figaro. "This is how justice works in the United States. It may leave some frustrated as we will never know the truth."
L'argent règle tout les problème n'est ce pas ? #DSK
— Matis Benedetto (@MatisBenedetto) November 30, 2012
["Money solves all problems, doesn'it? #DSK]
Mr. Strauss-Kahn was arrested on May 14, 2011 after Ms. Diallo, a 33-year-old hotel maid, told police that he attacked and raped her when she entered his room on the 28th floor of the Sofitel Hotel in Midtown Manhattan to clean it.
Six days later the 63-year-old French national resigned from the IMF "in disgrace." But the case fell apart in the weeks after the indictment, "as prosecutors began to have concerns about the housekeeper’s credibility," says the New York Times.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn said sex with Ms. Diallo was consensual while she refered to the event a a “violent and sadistic attack” that humiliated and degraded her, and robbed her “of her dignity as a woman."
The former head of the IMF also has legal troubles in France, where he was charged in October 2011 with participating in an organized prostitution ring in the northern city of Lille.
Earlier this year Mr Strauss-Kahn separated from his wife of some 21 years, U.S.-born French journalist Anne Sinclair.
