Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has reached a preliminary agreement with the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last year to settle a civil lawsuit she brought against him, sources familiar with the case said.
While a source in New York cautioned that the agreement could still fall apart, influential French daily Le Monde reported a deal had been reached.
Citing people close to Mr Strauss-Kahn, it said the parties had agreed on a payment of $6m (€4.6m) to settle the case.
Le Monde said Mr Strauss-Kahn, 63, and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, would meet a judge in New York on 7 December to sign the deal and close an affair that ended the Frenchman's International Monetary Fund career and wrecked his presidential ambitions.
"The discussions have been going on for weeks, months. The agreement should be confirmed at the start of next week," Michele Saban, a friend of Strauss-Kahn who saw him recently, told Reuters in Paris. She could not confirm the sum involved.
"We are moving towards the end of a tragedy," she said, adding that Ms Diallo had always been open to negotiating a settlement despite reticence from her lawyers.
Le Monde reported that Strauss-Kahn planned to take out a bank loan for $3m and would be lent the other $3m by his wife Anne Sinclair, despite the fact the couple separated in the summer and now live on different sides of Paris.
Lawyers for Mr Strauss-Kahn and Ms Diallo based in Paris declined to comment on the case and lawyers in New York did not immediately respond to requests made last night.
The New York Times, which first reported the development, also said the pair would appear before a judge in New York next week. It said the settlement sum could not be determined.
