BRONX SUPREME COURT — Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Nafissatou Diallo, the chambermaid who accused the former International Monetary Fund chief of raping her in a Manhattan hotel last year, signed a settlement of her sexual assault lawsuit for an amount that a judge called “confidential.”
Diallo has also settled a separate lawsuit filed against the New York Post for an article alleging that the Sofitel Hotel maid was a prostitute, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon said at a brief hearing Monday.
“I just want to thank everyone all over the world and everyone at the court,” a smiling Diallo, 33, said outside the Bronx courthouse. “God bless you all. Thank you.”
Her attorney, Kenneth Thompson, added, “With this resolution, she can now move forward with her life.”
The case has captivated the world’s attention since Strauss-Kahn, 63, once a top world economist and a leading French politician, was pulled from a Paris-bound jet in May 2011, arrested, and later charged with raping Diallo in the Midtown hotel.
Prosecutors quickly set about building a sexual assault case against the powerful Frenchman, but it unraveled after it became clear that Diallo, a Guinean immigrant and mother, had lied about her background and changed her account of the incident, fatally damaging her credibility as a witness.
A Manhattan judge dismissed the criminal case in August 2011, but Diallo’s attorney, Kenneth Thompson, had already filed a civil complaint.
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers then filed a motion to have the civil case dismissed on the grounds that the sexual encounter in the hotel was allegedly consensual. In March, they asked a judge in The Bronx, where the civil suit was filed because of Diallo’s residence there, to toss the case because they claimed Strauss-Kahn had diplomatic immunity at the time of the incident.
At Monday’s hearing, Justice McKeon said that the parties had been involved in “extensive discussions” about a settlement since last month, but that it was only finalized Monday.
“Ladies and gentlemen, about 10 minutes ago we reached a settlement in this case, which was put on the record,” McKeon said at the hearing, adding that the exact amount was "confidential."
Diallo smiled after the hearing as she gripped her lawyer’s hand.
Strauss-Kahn still faces legal troubles in France, where he is awaiting a French court’s decision on whether he should stand trial on “aggravated pimping” charges stemming from sex parties he attended.
