The civil lawsuit for rape filed by a former American model against the Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo was dismissed by a district judge in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to a court ruling that AFP had access to this Saturday.
Magistrate Jennifer Dorsey rejected the case, pointing out irregularities committed by the defense of the American Kathryn Mayorga, who alleges that she was sexually abused by the Manchester United star in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009.
In her 42-page ruling, the judge accused the woman’s lawyers of “abuse and blatant circumvention of the proper litigation process” and considered as a result that the plaintiff “loses her opportunity to continue with this case.”
The former Juventus and Real Madrid player, 37, has always denied the accusations and has maintained that the relationship with the woman was completely consensual.
The American justice had already decided in 2019 not to prosecute the footballer in criminal courts due to lack of evidence.
In the civil case, a judge had recommended in October to file the complaint of Mayorga, who is now 37 years old, considering that it was based in part on documents that had been leaked to the press by “Football Leaks” that should not have been in his power.
Those documents contained communications between the striker and his lawyers, protected by law in the United States.
– “Bad faith” –
In his October recommendations, the judge found that the plaintiff’s attorney, Leslie Stovall, “acted in bad faith,” an argument now supported by the Las Vegas magistrate.
“Stovall’s repeated use of stolen and confidential documents to support the allegations has all the hallmarks of bad faith,” Judge Dorsey wrote in her ruling.
The text acknowledges the “seriousness” of this judicial decision for the plaintiff but considers that the “badly acquired information” impregnated the complaint and the accusations, “and probably the memories and perceptions of the key events” of the woman, to such an extent that any other decision would have been “inappropriate”.
In June 2009, Mayorga called Las Vegas police to report a rape, but refused to identify her assailant.
Shortly after, a “private mediation” was organized with Ronaldo’s representatives, which led to a financial transaction in 2010 of $375,000 in exchange for absolute confidentiality about the alleged facts or the agreement, as well as the abandonment of all proceedings.
For Mayorga’s current lawyers, that agreement should not be valid since they allege that their client was then pressured and was under psychological trauma.
In August 2018, the complainant contacted the Las Vegas police again and asked that her case be reopened, publicly accusing the footballer for the first time.
The captain of the Portuguese national team later declared that 2018 was his “most difficult year on a personal level”, as his “honor” had been “questioned”.
The lawsuit filed in Las Vegas demanded $200 million in compensation from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
