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Ex-IMF chief, hotel maid settle suit in sex case

NEW YORK - Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid settled her lawsuit Monday over sexual-assault allegations that sank his political career and spurred scrutiny of his dealings with women on two continents.

NEW YORK - Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid settled her lawsuit Monday over sexual-assault allegations that sank his political career and spurred scrutiny of his dealings with women on two continents.

State Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon announced that after lengthy negotiations in the suit brought by Nafissatou Diallo, the parties "came together and put terms of a settlement on the record." The amount of the settlement was kept confidential.

Strauss-Kahn did not attend the hearing Monday at a Bronx courthouse.

Diallo looked composed and resolute as the deal was announced. "I thank everybody all over the world and everybody at the court, and God bless you all," she said afterward.

Her attorney, Kenneth Thompson, called her "a strong and courageous woman who never lost faith in the justice system."

In a statement, attorneys William Taylor III and Amit Mehta, thanked the judge. "On behalf of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, we are pleased to have arrived at a resolution," they said.

The lawsuit stemmed from a May 2011 hotel suite encounter that also led to criminal charges, forced Strauss-Kahn's resignation from the IMF, and cut off his potential candidacy for the French presidency.

Diallo, 31, a housekeeper from Guinea, told police Strauss-Kahn forced her to perform oral sex and tried to rape her after she arrived to clean his suite. Strauss-Kahn, 63, who has since separated from his wife, has said what happened was "a moral failing," but was consensual.

The criminal case was dropped after prosecutors said Diallo had credibility problems. She said she always told the truth about what happened between the two and would press her claims in the lawsuit. Strauss-Kahn called the suit defamatory and countersued for $1 million.

French judges are to decide by Dec. 19 whether to annul charges linking him to a suspected prostitution ring run out of a luxury hotel. He acknowledges attending "libertine" gatherings but says he didn't know about women getting paid to participate.