An American woman claims Cristiano Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas. Years ago, the soccer star paid her to remain silent. Now, the woman is going public for the first time and filing a complaint against Ronaldo. She possesses a document that could be extremely dangerous for him.
Der Spiegel reports Kathryn Mayorga, met Cristiano Ronaldo on June 12, 2009 in a Las Vegas nightclub. Ronaldo was there on vacation with his brother-in-law and cousin. It was the summer when the star, then 24, would transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid for a then-record sum of 94 million euros.
On that Friday in June, the paths of the model and the multimillionaire crossed in the VIP section of Rain, a nightclub belonging to Palms Casino Resort. Paparazzi photos show Mayorga standing close to Ronaldo and talking. He is wearing a white shirt with a narrow black tie and she is in a light gray dress with gold jewelry. He plays it cool while she beams at him. Within hours, the gossip pages around the world would be busying themselves with trying to figure out who this “mysterious brunette” is at Ronaldo’s side. The party continued in the early morning hours in Ronaldo’s penthouse in the nearby Hotel Palms Place. And only two people know what happened in the bedroom there: Kathryn Mayorga and Cristiano Ronaldo.
What is clear is that the soccer star paid Mayorga $375,000 a few months later as part of an out-of-court settlement. In exchange, Mayorga signed an agreement to never talk about her accusations that Cristiano Ronaldo had raped her.
From Der Spiegel
When the first article appeared, Ronaldo’s agency Gestifute released a statement saying, “the article is nothing but a piece of journalistic fiction.” The statement continued: “The newspaper has based their entire narrative on documents which are unsigned and where the parties are not identified.”
Numerous documents in DER SPIEGEL’s possession prove as much, including some which have been signed by Ronaldo himself. The existence of those documents could help explain why he has not, in the last year-and-a-half, followed up on his threats to take DER SPIEGEL to court. In its public statement, Gestifute also discredited the alleged victim, saying she “refuses to come forward and confirm the veracity of the accusation.”
It is a perfidious accusation. After all, the key element of the out-of-court settlement was that Mayorga was not allowed to comment on the incident. Should she do so, according to the deal, she would have to pay the money back to Ronaldo and possibly damages as well.
Now, though, she has decided to talk anyway, telling her story in detail for the first time. Why? What made her change her mind? Essentially, there are three reasons. First, she has a new lawyer, one who is both experienced and unflinching. He believes the non-disclosure agreement is not legally binding and he has filed a civil complaint against Ronaldo in Kathryn Mayorga’s name. That complaint is supported by a 27-page document that could have far-reaching consequences for the football star. The document contains a version of how Ronaldo experienced that night, including the following quote: “She said no and stop several times.”
The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 40/2018 (September 29th, 2018) of DER SPIEGEL.
In the meantime Lawyers for Cristiano Ronaldo said on Friday they would sue German magazine Der Spiegel after it published “blatantly illegal” accusations by an American woman who alleges she was raped by the Portuguese soccer star in 2009.
Ronaldo’s lawyer Christian Schertz said in a statement the report was “an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy”, and that he would seek legal redress for his client from the magazine.
The statement was sent to Reuters by Ronaldo’s agent Gestifute in response to a request for comment on the Der Spiegel story. Gestifute did not answer any specific questions about the content of the Der Spiegel report, which Reuters was unable to independently verify.
Ronaldo is one of the biggest names in world sport. He has been named player of the year five times and transferred to Juventus from Real Madrid this summer for 100 million euros. The Italian club declined to comment on the Der Spiegel report.
The magazine said the rape allegedly took place in June 2009 in a hotel room in Las Vegas, according to Leslie Mark Stovall, lawyer for the alleged victim, Kathryn Mayorga.
Ronaldo and Mayorga then reached an out-of-court agreement, according to Stovall as reported in the magazine.
It said, according to Stovall, that she had pledged never to speak of the accusation again and Ronaldo paid her $375,000.
“Kathryn was sexually assaulted in June 2009 by an individual named Cristiano Ronaldo,” Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, said in a video published online by Der Spiegel.
Reuters was not able to independently verify Mayorga’s allegations.
Stovall did not immediately respond to email requests from Reuters for comment on the report and Mayorga was not available for comment in telephone calls to her home.
Her lawyer told Der Spiegel, however, that he had filed a civil complaint seeking to declare the non-disclosure agreement void.
