Strauss-Kahn lawyers deny $6m deal with hotel maid

Lawyers for former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn have denied reports he has settled a lawsuit with a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault.

They denied reports that a deal of $6m (£3.7m; 4.6m euros) had been agreed and said negotiations were still under way.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was held in New York in May 2011 after Nafissatou Diallo said he assaulted her in his hotel suite.

Prosecutors later dropped charges amid concerns about her credibility.

Lawyers William Taylor III and Amit Mehta said in a statement on Friday that reports of a settlement were "flatly false".

"The parties have discussed a resolution but there has been no settlement. Mr Strauss-Kahn will continue to defend the charges if no resolution can be reached," their statement said.

It was reported on Thursday that a deal was said to have been struck in recent days at the Bronx Supreme Court.

Details of the deal were not reported at the time and correspondents said they were likely to be subject to a confidentiality agreement.

But unnamed sources close to Mr Strauss-Kahn, quoted by France's Le Monde newspaper, said he had planned to pay Ms Diallo $6m.

The sources also said half would have been paid by Mr Strauss-Kahn and half would have been loaned to him by his wife Anne Sinclair, from whom he formally separated last month.

After charges were dropped Ms Diallo, 33, opened a civil suit for undisclosed damages against the former French politician. Mr Strauss-Kahn, 63, called the lawsuit defamatory and countersued.

Her case opened the floodgates to a slew of others sexual allegations against Mr Strauss-Kahn, leading him to resign from his IMF post.

It was widely seen as having ruined his chance of becoming the socialist presidential candidate in his native France.

A court date between Mr Strauss-Kahn and Ms Diallo's lawyers is expected next week, although a day has not been set, reports the New York Times.

She told police that when she arrived to clean his luxury Manhattan hotel room, he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

He admitted to a "moral failing", but said it was consensual.