First modification:
A Nevada court on Friday dismissed a civil rape case against Cristiano Ronaldo, three years after criminal charges were dropped. The plaintiff, Kathryn Mayorga, a former American model, accused the Manchester United striker of raping her in 2009 in Las Vegas.
The civil lawsuit for rape of a former American model against Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo has been dismissed by a US judge, according to a court ruling seen by the AFP agency this Saturday.
A Nevada state court judge closed the case Friday over irregularities alleged by plaintiff Kathryn Mayorga’s attorney, who accused the soccer star of raping her in 2009 at a Las Vegas hotel.
The American justice decided in 2019 not to prosecute Ronaldo in criminal courts due to lack of evidence. In the civil case, a judge had recommended in October to file the complaint of Kathryn Mayorga, now 37, considering that it was based in part on pirated “Football Leaks” documents that should not have been in her possession.
A US court has dismissed an alleged rape lawsuit against soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo filed more than a decade ago by former model Kathryn Mayorga, according to court documents.https://t.co/AdAc7vwZCl
— EFE News (@EFEnoticias) June 11, 2022
The plaintiff’s attorney was declared in “bad faith”
In his recommendations, he accused the girl’s attorney, Leslie Stovall, of acting in “bad faith” in the case. The federal court in Nevada followed these recommendations and found that this “bad faith” had “persisted”.
“Stovall’s repeated use of stolen and confidential documents to support the allegations has all the hallmarks of bad faith,” he wrote in his decision.
Although the court said it “recognizes” its “seriousness” for the complainant, it believes that this “misinformation” permeated both the complaint and the charges, “and probably the memories and perceptions of the key events” of the first model, that any another decision would have been “inappropriate”.
The striker, who currently plays for Manchester United in England, has always steadfastly denied the rape accusations, assuring that he had a “completely consensual” relationship with the young woman.
In June 2009, the complainant did call the Las Vegas police to report a rape, but refused to identify her assailant. The case was then closed.
$375,000 offered to whistleblower
Shortly after, a “private mediation” was organized with Ronaldo’s representatives, which led to a financial transaction in 2010: $375,000 in exchange for absolute confidentiality about the alleged facts or the agreement, as well as the abandonment of all proceedings.
For the current lawyers of Kathryn Mayorga, this agreement is null, especially due to the psychological disorder of their client at that time and the pressure exerted on her. They demanded Ronaldo compensation of up to 200 million dollars.
It was in August 2018 when the complainant contacted the Las Vegas police again and asked that her case be reopened, publicly accusing the soccer player for the first time.
The Portugal captain had later assured that 2018 had been his “most difficult year on a personal level” because his “honor” had been “questioned”.
*With AFP; adapted from its original French version
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