Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has discussed an out of court settlement with the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a luxury New York City hotel last May, but has yet to reach a settlement agreement, it emerged on Friday, reports France 24.
French media reported on Friday morning that Strauss-Kahn had agreed to hand over $6 million (4.6 million euros) to Nafissatou Diallo, but his lawyers, William Taylor and Amit Mehta, denied the reports in a brief statement later in the day.
"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," Taylor and Mehta said. "Media reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has agreed to pay six million dollars to settle the civil case are flatly false."
Diallo's legal team did not comment.
According to Le Monde, Strauss-Kahn was to raise the money by borrowing $3 million from a bank and the rest from his estranged wife, Anne Sinclair, a former newsreader who inherited a fortune from her art dealer father.
Until now, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers repeatedly said they would not agree to a pay-off deal, while Diallo's legal team insisted she wanted her day in court to confront her alleged abuser.
Diallo's allegation of attempted rape in May 2011 triggered a stunning fall from grace for Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as likely to win the 2012 French presidential election against then president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Read more of this report from France 24.