Nafissatou Diallo, Strauss-Kahn’s accuser, was misquoted: lawyer

GlobalPost

A lawyer for Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, says his client was misquoted by prosecutors and did not contradict her earlier statements, The New York Times reports.

Diallo and one of her lawyers met with prosecutors Wednesday for several hours to discuss the case. During that time, the prosecutors played for them taped conversations of Diallo. The tapes were recorded jailhouse calls to Diallo from an African jail inmate.

(More from GlobalPost: Maid who accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault goes public)

Her lawyer, Kenneth P. Thompson, insisted that taped conversations between Diallo and the inmate do not suggest that Diallo wanted to exploit the case to make money off Strauss-Kahn, CNN reports.

Law enforcement officials had earlier told Thompson as well as journalists that the tapes include Diallo saying “words to the effect of: ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing.’ ”

After listening to the tapes with Diallo, Thompson said Wednesday that his client's statements were mischaracterized.

"He said that at no point did she raise the issue of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s wealth or status in the way that prosecutors had described it. Rather, he said, the man she was speaking with, who initiated the calls to Ms. Diallo, remarked during one conversation that Ms. Diallo could stand to gain money from the case, but she quickly dismissed the idea and said it was a matter for her lawyer," The Times reports.

“It is a fact that what they told me and what they told you was not accurate,” Thompson told reporters. “Ms. Diallo never said, ‘I am going to get this guy’s money’ or anything about scheming to get his money.”

Furthermore, Thompson said the tapes show that Diallo's depiction to police of what happened in the hotel room is consistent with what she told her friend immediately after the incident.

The district attorney's office did not comment on the meeting, Reuters reports.

The lawyer's assertions add a new twist to the case, which took a turn when prosecutors said they had found discrepancies in Diallo's account of her past and the hotel incident, suggesting she may not be credible. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have called on Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to drop the case.

His next court date is set for August 23.

(More from GlobalPost: French politicians are "nauseated" by Strauss-Kahn scandal)

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