Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the world’s most famous footballer, is being sued in Las Vegas over an alleged rape in 2009, with the victim claiming she was paid into silence by Ronaldo’s camp at the time.
Kathryn Mayorga claims Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas penthouse suite in 2009 despite the fact she repeatedly cried “no.” Her lawsuit also alleges that after the assault concluded, Ronaldo apologised and stated “he was usually a gentleman.”
Mayorga’s lawsuit, filed in Nevada’s Clark County court system on Friday, alleges she met Ronaldo at the Palms Hotel and Casino in June of 2009. Paparazzi photos captured on the evening in question clearly show Mayorga and Ronaldo talking to each other in the VIP area of the casino’s Rain nightclub. Mayorga, a budding model aged 25 at the time, was working at the nightclub. The lawsuit claims Ronaldo invited Mayorga and a friend to the penthouse suite of the hotel where he was staying. After refusing to enter the balcony hot tub of the suite for fear of ruining a dress, Mayorga claims Ronaldo gave her some clothes and instructed her to change in the bathroom. At that point, the lawsuit alleges Ronaldo entered the bathroom, exposed himself, and asked her to perform a sex act, which Mayorga refused. Shortly after that, Mayorga alleges Ronaldo pulled her into a bedroom of the suite and raped her, despite her repeated cries of “no, no, no.”
Later that day, Mayorga reported the assault to the Las Vegas Police Department and was examined in hospital. Photographic evidence of her injuries were taken at the time.
However, the lawsuit then alleges that Ronaldo’s team hired “fixers” to shadow her, stalk her, and dig up dirt in a bid to discredit any potential criminal case. Following that Ronaldo is then said to have paid Mayorga €260,000 (around AUD$417,000) to withdraw all criminal complaints and coax her into silence by signing a nondisclosure agreement. Mayorga was even barred from saying Ronaldo’s name to her therapist as part of the agreement.
The lawsuit filed on Friday seeks to void the validity of that nondisclosure agreement, as well as that of the original payout as well.
For his part, Ronaldo has gone on the attack, taking to an Instagram Live video to label reporting from German magazine Der Spiegel, which in turn sparked the lawsuit, as “fake news.”
No, no, no, no, no. What they said today? Fake, fake news. They want to promote (themselves by using) my name. It’s normal. They want to be famous to say my name, but it is part of the job. I am a happy man and all good.
The Las Vegas Police Department has confirmed they have been in contact with Mayorga several times over the past few weeks, which adds fuel to speculation investigators may be preparing to re-open the case. Sexual assault cases reported to police do not fall under the statute of limitations in the state of Nevada, meaning the case can be re-opened at any time regardless of how long ago the alleged incident took place.
Mayorga, who previously worked as a teacher, has since gone into hiding.
