Cristiano Ronaldo won't face civil suit stemming from 2009 rape allegations
(Warning, the following article contains discussions of sexual assault.)
A Nevada judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday which alleged Ronaldo or his associates violated a nondisclosure agreement stemming from a sexual encounter between a Nevada woman and the soccer star, according to the Associated Press.
The civil case was originally opened in 2018 after Ronaldo admitted to paying former Las Vegas model Kathryn Mayorga $375,000 after she accused Ronaldo of rape in 2009. Ronaldo denied the allegations in 2018 and claimed the relations with himself and Mayorga were consensual. He did not face criminal charges after the case was reopened in 2019.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey instead ruled that Mayorga's attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, used leaked and stolen documents from discussions between Ronaldo and his lawyers.
“I find that the procurement and continued use of these documents was bad faith, and simply disqualifying Stovall will not cure the prejudice to Ronaldo because the misappropriated documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the very fabric of [plaintiff Kathryn] Mayorga’s claims,” Dorsey. “Harsh sanctions are merited.”
Mayorga's attorney asked for more than $25 million in damages from Ronaldo in the civil suit for violating the NDA in 2017 by leaking documents to German news outlet Der Spiegel. The attorney also argued Mayorga was pressured into signing the NDA and was in no condition to consent to accepting the $375,000 settlement and dropping the criminal case.
