Lawyers for former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn say he will plead not guilty in a U.S. court Monday to charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid last month

Strauss-Kahn is to appear before a judge in a New York court. He faces 25 years in prison if he is convicted on charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sex abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.

Strauss-Kahn quit as managing director of the IMF a few days after his May 14 arrest in the first-class section of an Air France plane, minutes before it was to depart New York for Paris.

He is accused of attacking a 32-year-old African immigrant a few hours earlier when she came to clean his suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel in New York City, apparently believing it had been vacated.

Strauss-Kahn, who is married to Anne Sinclair, a prominent U.S.-born French television reporter, has weathered past sex scandals. In 2008, he apologized for what he termed an “error in judgment” for an affair with one of his subordinates.

Before the latest scandal, Strauss-Kahn was considered a leading contender to run as the Socialist party's candidate against President Nicolas Sarkozy in France's 2012 presidential election.