Dominique Strauss-Kahn charges likely to be dropped, lawyer says
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The she said/he said saga of the hotel housekeeper versus the wealthy Frenchman is heating up again in New York.
Nafissatou Diallo’s lawyer has told reporters that he expects she will be informed Monday that prosecutors are preparing to dismiss all or some of the charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who she says tried to rape her.
Manhattan prosecutors sent a letter to Diallo summoning her to the district attorney’s office Monday to discuss what will happen at a court hearing Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
‘Why would they need to see her if they were going forward?’ lawyer Kenneth Thompson told the Daily News on Saturday.
Prosecutors, who have twice delayed court appearances while they further investigated Diallo’s claims, had been expected to reveal Tuesday whether they will pursue charges against Strauss-Kahn.
In May, Diallo, 32, accused Strauss-Kahn, 62, of trying to rape her while she attempted to clean his suite at a midtown Manhattan hotel.
Prosecutors filed seven charges involving sexual assault against Strauss-Kahn but then in early July began backing away from the case after they discovered that Diallo, a West African immigrant, had misled them on several occasions, even lying to them about an earlier rape.
While Strauss-Kahn’s supporters in France have been predicting his vindication -- and readying to receive him in Paris this week -- he may not be entirely finished with the American justice system even if criminal charges against him are dropped.
Thompson this month filed a civil lawsuit on Diallo’s behalf against Strauss-Kahn demanding financial compensation for what she has been through. Thompson, who has attacked prosecutors for their treatment of his client, stepped up the criticism, telling the New York Times that the tone of the letter she received ‘is consistent with the unfair way the Manhattan district attorney’s office has treated Ms. Diallo throughout this process.’
Neither the district attorney’s office nor Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers commented on this weekend’s developments.
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-- Geraldine Baum in New York