Re-enter Cristiano Ronaldo’s name into the #MeToo and Time’s Up conversations.
The legendary soccer star was accused of raping an American woman back in June 2009. According to 2017 article from German magazine Der Spiegel, Kathyrn Mayorga was allegedly raped in a Las Vegas hotel room.
The two parties reportedly agreed on a $375,000 settlement and a confidentiality agreement was signed, per Mayorga’s attorney.
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Back in April of last year, Ronaldo slammed reports that he settled a lawsuit, calling the reported settlement “a piece of fiction.”
Now, Ronaldo’s attorneys plan on suing the German magazine for publishing “blatantly illegal” accusations. The athlete’s lawyers sent a statement to Reuters.
One of Ronaldo’s lawyers, Christian Schertz, said a statement in Der Spiegel‘s 2017 piece was “an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy.”
The alleged victim’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, reportedly told the German outlet he had filed a civil complaint to have the non-disclosure agreement voided.
Las Vegas police have reportedly re-opened the nine-year-old case and the alleged victim gave Der Spiegel a detailed recollection of the alleged encounter in a new report.
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Ronaldo allegedly exposed himself to Mayorga during a suite party at the Palms Casino Resort. The soccer star reportedly demanded she touches his penis. “When I wouldn’t touch it, he begged me to suck it,” she said.
He then pulled her onto the bed and raped her, Mayorga alleges: “I turned away. He tried to take my underwear off. I turned away from him and curled up into a ball. And I was holding my vagina. And that’s when he jumped on me.”
According to the alleged victim’s lawyer, Ronaldo admitted the sex was non-consensual in a questionnaire he answered.
Ronaldo has since released his own statement following the allegations.
The soccer star took to Twitter to write: I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.”