Editor’s note: Please be advised that this story contains descriptions of sexual violence
Star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is being sued by a woman for allegedly raping her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, according to her lawyer and police officials.
Kathryn Mayorga, 34, says the Portuguese forward sexually assaulted her in a penthouse suite in the US state of Nevada and then dispatched a team of “fixers” to obstruct the criminal investigation.
The former model alleges in the lawsuit that she was pressured into signing a non-disclosure agreement to keep the alleged rape secret and is seeking $200,000 in penalties and damages.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police on Monday said an incident report with the number listed in Mayorga’s lawsuit was filed on the night of the alleged attack and said the case was reopened last month after the unidentified victim came forward with new information.
Ronaldo’s lawyer, Christian Schertz, on Friday threatened to sue the German magazine Der Spiegel that first published what he called “blatantly illegal” accusations, saying “it violates the personal rights of our client in an exceptionally serious way”.
Ronaldo, a five-time world footballer of the year, rejected the charges as “fake news” during a live chat on Instagram.
“What they said today, fake, fake news,” the 33-year-old athlete who moved to Italian side Juventus from Real Madrid this summer, said in a post that was later deleted.
“You want to promote by 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.”
In the suit, Mayorga said she met Ronaldo on the evening of June 12, 2009, at the Rain Nightclub in the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
It said she accepted an invitation to join Ronaldo and others in his penthouse suite to “enjoy the view of the Las Vegas strip”.
She was invited to join guests in a hot tub but she declined because she did not have a bathing suit, the complaint said.
Ronaldo offered her clothing and then followed her into a toilet where she was going to change clothes, it said.
The complaint further stated that after she refused his demand to perform oral sex and said she wanted to leave, Ronaldo pulled her into a bedroom and anally raped her while she repeatedly screamed “no”.
“When Cristiano Ronaldo completed the sexual assault of the plaintiff, he allowed her to leave the bedroom stating he was sorry, he was usually a gentleman,” it said.
The lawsuit said Mayorga reported the alleged assault to the Las Vegas police the same day and underwent an examination at a local hospital.
It said the assault had left her with “severe emotional and bodily injuries” and “major depression.”
Under pressure from Ronaldo’s “fixers”, Mayorga settled the case “in exchange for a payment of $375,000 and non-disclosure of the sexual assault,” the lawsuit said.
Mayorga told Der Spiegel she no longer felt bound by the non-disclosure agreement as she suffers from the consequences of the night nine years ago.
Leslie Stovall, Mayorga’s lawyer, said in a statement on Monday that his client wanted to “obtain justice by holding Cristiano Ronaldo accountable for his conduct”.
Italian side Juventus declined to comment on the German magazine report on Friday.
