Cristiano Ronaldo is a Manchester United player again. Ronaldo has had a remarkable career. For
the last four years, however, that success has come against a backdrop of serious allegations.
And what follows is a summary of those allegations.
In 2017, German magazine Der Spiegel first reported that Ronaldo was alleged to have
raped an American woman, Kathryn Mayorga, during a holiday in Las Vegas in 2009. Ronaldo has strongly
and consistently denied all accusations made against him, calling the story “fake news”.
Las Vegas Police re-investigated the crime in 2018 at the request of the victim but by the following
summer had concluded that the claims could not “be proven beyond reasonable doubt”. Ronaldo,
it was ruled, would not face criminal charges. Mayorga, who has waived her right for anonymity,
is now pursuing him for substantial damages through a civil lawsuit in the US.
Mayorga, then 25, has alleged that she and a friend were invited by Ronaldo to come
back to his hotel suite, where she claims the rape later took place in a bedroom.
A detailed account of the alleged events was given by Mayorga in an interview with Der Spiegel.
Mayorga first went to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) the following day
to file a complaint but declined to give the name of her assailant or the location of the assault.
Mayorga, who has said she was fearful of the public backlash,
opted instead to initiate civil proceedings against Ronaldo in the weeks that followed.
Documents obtained by the website Football Leaks in 2017 revealed that the lawyer
representing Mayorga contacted Ronaldo’s legal team later in 2009. A series of questionnaires,
it is alleged, were filled out by Ronaldo, with the footballer claiming sex had been consensual.
In the documents dated from September 2009 and seen by Der Spiegel, though,
Ronaldo is quoted as saying “she said no and stop several times” during sex. He is also
said to have apologised afterwards. Ronaldo has strongly denied the accusations and, in 2018,
his lawyers said the document concerned was “completely fabricated”.
Ronaldo’s lawyer Peter Christiansen said: “Once again, for the avoidance of doubt,
Cristiano Ronaldo’s position has always been, and continues to be,
that what happened in 2009 in Las Vegas was completely consensual.”
Legal teams representing Mayorga and Ronaldo met in Las Vegas for mediation in January 2010.
Mayorga and her family were present, but Ronaldo was not, and a day of discussions is said to have
ended with Ronaldo’s legal team agreeing to pay Mayorga an out-of-court settlement of $375,000
(£272,000) in return for her agreeing to never go public with the accusations.
“This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt,” a statement from Ronaldo’s lawyers
said in 2018. “Cristiano Ronaldo merely followed the advice of his
advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusations made against him,
in order precisely to avoid attempts, such as those we are now witnessing,
to destroy a reputation built thanks to hard work, athletic ability and behavioural correction.”
In 2017, when allegations of rape were publicly made against Ronaldo, Mayorga hired a new lawyer,
who attempted to have the “settlement and non-disclosure agreement declared void”.
A civil complaint was then lodged against Ronaldo under Mayorga’s name,
after she is said to have been inspired to re-open the case by the #MeToo movement.
Ronaldo has consistently denied all claims made against him,
and in October 2018 he made a statement on Twitter that read:
“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that
goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse
to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.”
Does Ronaldo still face scrutiny?
Las Vegas Police said in September 2018 that the case against Ronaldo had been reopened
and that detectives were “following up on information being provided”.
By the following January, they had issued a warrant for a DNA sample from Ronaldo,
whose legal team said it was a “very standard request”.
Six months later, it was confirmed Ronaldo would not face charges of sexual assault.
“Based upon a review of the information presented at this time, the allegations
of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,”
said the Clark County District Attorney’s office. “Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming.”
A spokesperson added: “She refused to identify him or disclose where the crime occurred.
As a result, the police were unable to follow investigative
protocols for sexual assault cases or to conduct any meaningful investigation.
“Without knowing the identity of the perpetrator or the location of the crime, detectives were
unable to search for and impound vital forensic evidence. In addition, video evidence, showing
interactions between the victim and perpetrator before and after the alleged crime, was lost.”
Mayorga’s legal team have continued to pursue Ronaldo for damages.
The case was filed in State Court in September 2018 before being moved to Federal Court in 2019.
In April this year, UK newspaper The Mirror published details from court documents
that showed Mayorga was claiming for substantial damages. That is said to have included £18 million
for “past pain and suffering”, £18 million for “future pain and suffering”, and £18 million in
punitive damages. Additional expenses and legal fees took the overall figure to £56.5 million.
Ronaldo’s lawyers, according to the Associated Press, have since attempted to have the lawsuit
dismissed after claiming that Leslie Mark Stovall, Mayorga’s lawyer, had failed to disclose that
hundreds of documents used were from the Football Leaks website. Both parties, they pointed out,
were supposed to share any information they intend to use ahead of a civil hearing.
A key aspect to Mayorga’s civil case is that the initial ordeal had left her “mentally
incapacitated” when agreeing to reach the initial settlement for $375,000 in 2010.
US District Judge Jennifer Dorsey, based in Las Vegas, will decide if Mayorga “lacked the mental
capacity” to sign a confidentiality arrangement with Ronaldo’s representatives at that time but,
as yet, a hearing date has not been set for that to be determined.