Soccer Star Cristiano Ronaldo Tweets Rape Denial of Woman at Palms in Las Vegas in 2009, Alleged Victim Going Ahead with Lawsuit

Posted on: October 4, 2018, 08:09h. 

Last updated on: October 4, 2018, 10:07h.

Cristiano Ronaldo has addressed a lawsuit filed against him in a Las Vegas courtroom last week the old-fashioned way: via social media. The suit accuses him of a 2009 rape which allegedly took place at his penthouse suite in the Palms Casino Resort off the Las Vegas Strip.

Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo said rape goes against “everything I am and believe in” on Wednesday, the same day that Las Vegas police confirmed they had reopened an investigation into the 2009 allegations against the soccer megastar. (Image: The Independent)

Although Ronaldo went on Instagram last week shortly after news of the lawsuit broke to denounce the “fake news,” he didn’t clearly address the lawsuit per se at that time.

On Wednesday, he was more forthright.

In response, Leslie Stoval — who is representing the self-named alleged victim Kathryn Mayorga — said his client was “not interested in responding to Twitter,” noting that Ronaldo will have 20 days to respond to a summons once it goes out.

Ronaldo Lawyer Leaks

But German sports magazine Der Spiegel leaked documents that claim to include a copy of a non-disclosure agreement between Ronaldo’s camp and Mayorga, in which she agrees to drop her claims against the soccer player in return for a $375,000 payout.

Der Spiegel’s documents also include an alleged confidential information-gathering questionnaire sent to Ronaldo by his lawyer in 2009. The magazine claims that Ronaldo is referred to as “X” in the document, while Mayorga is referred to as “Ms. C.”

I entered her from behind,” said X in the document. “It was rude. We didn’t change position. 5/7 minutes. She said that she didn’t want to, but she made herself available … But she kept saying ‘No.’ ‘Don’t do it.’ ‘I’m not like the others.’ I apologized afterwards.”

At a press conference in Las Vegas, Stoval, said his client was “determined to follow through on this.”

The lawsuit also claims Ronaldo’s team of fixers “coerced” Mayorga into accepting the settlement and that their actions derailed the police investigation into the allegedly criminal act.

Police Reopen Case

After initially filing a police report, Mayorga failed to follow up with investigators, fearing negative publicity and because Ronaldo’s team of handlers threatened to implicate Mayorga in a scheme “to obtain money” from the sports star, according to the filing.

Mayorga has been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to her attorney. The lawsuit also accuses Ronaldo of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, coercion, fraud, and abuse of a vulnerable person, among other things.

Las Vegas Metro Police confirmed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week that they had reopened the investigation in September, although would not comment any further on the matter.

In May 2016, Nevada enacted a bill that extended the statute of limitations for rape cases —  in part in response to intense lobbying by former victims of alleged rapes by Bill Cosby. The former TV star was convicted of three counts of sexual assault in April from a more recent case involving former Temple University sports coach Andrea Constand, and is now serving a three-to-10 year sentence in a Pennsylvania state maximum-security prison.

Prosecutors were previously required to bring charges within a four-year period from the time an alleged offense occurred. The bill changed this to 20 years.