The sexual assault case being brought against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, is apparently close to collapse.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, resigned his leadership of the IMF in May after he was accused of attacking a maid in a New York hotel.
However, in an extraordinary twist to this remarkable cause célèbre, it has emerged that the credibility of the evidence given by the maid is being seriously questioned by prosecutors in New York.
The Reuters news agency is reporting an anonymous source stating: “Just about everything that was reported on this woman early on was untrue but no one checked or wanted to believe anything else.”
Mr Strauss-Kahn — who after his arrest and incarceration on bail was forced not only to quit the IMF but also to abandon his putative bid for the French presidency — was accused of the assault by a 32-year-old Guinean migrant working in the $3,000-a-night suites at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan.
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The New York Times is reporting that defence lawyers and prosecutors have been meeting to discuss dropping the case and releasing Mr Strauss-Kahn from house arrest.
Lawyers acting for Mr Strauss-Kahn are said to have been building a case that sex took place but that it was consensual. Prosecutors are said to have been insisting that, in any case, he plead guilty to misdemeanour.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who has denied the allegations, is scheduled to be back in court today in New York at about 3.30pm London time, ostensibly to discuss his bail terms.
A conviction for sexual assault would carry a sentence of up to 25 years in jail.
The New York Times reported unnamed law enforcement officers confirming forensics showing a sexual encounter had taken place but that the maid had “possible links to criminal activities, including drug dealing”.