NEW YORK — Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid who accused him of sexually assaulting her have reached an agreement to settle her lawsuit, likely ending a legal saga that forced the onetime French presidential contender’s resignation and opened a floodgate of accusations against him, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.

Details of the deal, which comes after prosecutors dropped related criminal charges last year, weren’t immediately known and likely will be veiled by a confidentiality deal. That could prevent the two from speaking publicly about a May 2011 encounter that she called a brutally sudden attack and he termed a consensual ‘‘moral failing.’’