Attorneys for Dominique Strauss-Kahn denied reports he had agreed to settle the civil case with the hotel maid who accused him of sexually assaulting her last year for $6 million.
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Dominique Strauss-Khan
"The parties have discussed a resolution but there has been no settlement," according to a statement from William Taylor III and Amit Mehta. "Strauss-Kahn will continue to defend the charges if no resolution can be reached."
News of a possible settlement was first reported by the New York Times and was later carried by Reuters.
Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, will appear before a judge in New York next week, the Times reported. The newspaper said the amount of money involved in the agreement could not be determined.
The scandal that erupted after Diallo's allegations scuttled Strauss-Kahn's plans to run for president of his native France and forced him to resign from the IMF days after he was arrested and charged with attempted rape, among other crimes.
But the criminal prosecution fell apart after doubts emerged concerning Diallo's credibility as a witness. The Manhattan district attorney's office formally moved to dismiss the indictment in August 2011, and a judge dropped the charges.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Bronx Supreme Court in New York just weeks before the criminal charges were dropped, accused Strauss-Kahn of a "brutal" assault and sought unspecified damages. But Strauss-Kahn has maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual.
Strauss-Kahn filed his own countersuit against the maid earlier this year, claiming Diallo's accusations destroyed his career and harmed his reputation.
Diallo alleged Strauss-Kahn forced her to perform oral sex on May 14, 2011, in his luxury suite at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan.
Strauss-Kahn's legal troubles have persisted since his return to France, where authorities have investigated his possible involvement in a prostitution ring that included sex parties he attended in France and in Washington, D.C.
In recent months, he has attempted a political comeback on the international speaking circuit.
Strauss-Kahn and his wife, journalist Anne Sinclair, have separated.