Strauss-Kahn hopes to settle with maid in 'few days'

NEW YORK: Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn hopes to settle out of court "in a few days" with the Manhattan hotel maid whose sex assault allegation triggered his spectacular downfall, his lawyer said Friday.


The one-time favorite for the French presidency could soon be putting his sordid 18-month legal battle in the United States to rest if he and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, agree on the still undisclosed terms of the settlement.

"I am hoping that we will have a signed agreement in a few days," Strauss-Kahn's attorney William Taylor told AFP.

Taylor said negotiations are ongoing, but refused to give details of any pay-off and called a report in France's Le Monde newspaper that Strauss-Kahn was ready to pay Diallo $6 million if she drops her civil suit "dramatically inaccurate."
.

"He never even suggested that," Taylor said.Taylor said he was "optimistic but realistic." However, he cautioned "we don't have one (a deal) yet, and so until you have a signed agreement, you don't really have an agreement."

Earlier, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers called Le Monde's $6 million figure and the report that the one-time high flier would take out a $3 million loan -- with the rest coming from his wealthy estranged wife -- "imaginary and mistaken."

If a deal is reached, it would be finalized in Bronx Supreme Court. Judge Douglas McKeon, who is presiding over the civil case in New York, told AFP "there may be a court session as early as next week," but declined to comment further.