Ronaldo rape accusation might be the biggest
soccer story in years, but it's hard to tell how things will play out
Juventus and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo,
soccer’s five-time world player of the year, has been accused of rape in a hotel room in Las Vegas in 2009. His accuser, 34-year-old American Kathryn Mayorga, claims that she settled and signed a non-disclosure agreement worth $375,000 at the time but now wants that document invalidated. She is seeking a further $200,000 in a civil suit, per the Wall Street Journal.
The case was officially reopened by the Las Vegas police department this month, according to Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl. They are currently investigating.
Ronaldo’s lawyers not only deny the allegation but have threatened to sue Der Spiegel, the German outlet that first reported the NDA in 2017 and published a lengthy exposé on the case on Friday, claiming to have corroborating evidence in the form of legal documents and testimony signed by Ronaldo himself. The lawyers claim that the story is a violation of Ronaldo’s “personal rights.”
Mayorga, who was a 25-year-old aspiring model when the rape allegedly occurred, says the incident still haunts her; that she regrets signing the NDA, feeling powerless and intimidated at the time; and that she wants Ronaldo to be held responsible in this new age of reckoning for past sexual assaults.
On Sunday, Ronaldo claimed on Instagram that the story was “fake, fake news.”
That much we know.
Then there’s the context to all this. Mayorga’s lawyer, who has taken over from the lawyer responsible for negotiating the NDA, has filed a civil complaint in Nevada against Ronaldo.
500
Pytanie, kto?
