A Las Vegas police report compiled 10 years after a woman first filed a rape complaint against international soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, before it was retracted and sealed by a Nevada judge. On Tuesday, it was accidentally nearly published.
Clark County District Court Judge Jasmine Lilly-Spells has released the results of the police investigation, the confidentiality agreement with the alleged rape victim, and the allegedly stolen records of Ronaldo’s attorney-client conversations. decided to at least temporarily comply with a federal court order to hide from the scene. his lawyer.
“The court has ordered a temporary seal to remain,” said Lily Spells, before Sept. 6 in a written statement from Ronaldo, the woman, Kathryn Mayorga’s lawyers, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. asked for an argument.
Mayorga turned himself in to Las Vegas police after the June 2009 incident, but did not name the suspect or reveal where the incident happened, and the criminal investigation was dropped, police and prosecutors said. Stated.
Police reopened the rape investigation after Mayorga filed a lawsuit against Ronaldo in 2018.
On Tuesday, a judge rejected a Las Vegas police request to determine whether Ronaldo could sue the department for damages if the records were made public.The documents are among the court’s public records. I didn’t join the department.
As part of that ruling, Lilly-Spells declared several other pending matters moot, including a temporary order to keep the disputed documents sealed pending a hearing. By the afternoon, the judge had acknowledged the error and corrected it.
Mayorga and her attorney release documents under Nevada’s public records law after losing a U.S. District Court case challenging the validity of a non-disclosure agreement that paid Mayorga $375,000 in 2010 It has not yet been decided if it is necessary.
The Associated Press typically doesn’t name people who say they’ve been victims of sexual assault, but Mayorga agreed through his lawyer to be named in news reports.
The New York Times launched a battle to release the record in federal court, and the Review Journal launched a battle in state court.Attorney Margaret McCrettie represented both papers.
Ronaldo’s lawyers, led by Peter Christiansen and Kendley Works, have fought every turn in a four-year legal battle to keep the documents from being made public.
Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, tried to release them by attaching them to court papers before Ronaldo’s lawyers took swift legal action to keep them locked up. did.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed Mayorga’s civil lawsuit in June. The civil suit went to federal court in 2019, with Stovall seeking at least $25 million in damages and attorneys’ fees from Ronaldo.
Stovall has appealed Dorsey’s dismissal to the Ninth United States Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Mayorga’s lawyers allege that Ronaldo or his associates violated a non-disclosure agreement before German news outlet Der Spiegel published an article titled “Cristiano Ronaldo’s Secret” in April 2017. .
Ronaldo’s lawyers claim the ‘football leak’ documents and non-disclosure agreements were the product of privileged discussions between lawyers and their clients, and there is no guarantee that they are genuine.
They also ordered Stovall to punish him for “malicious conduct” by court officials, for Mr. Dorsey being labeled “malicious”, and for the inappropriate use of leaked data. It is asking Mr. Dorsey to order him to pay more than $626,000 in legal costs and fees. Documents stolen to pursue Mayorga’s case.
“The fact that he was not the first thief makes him not guilty of calculating and expropriating documents from third parties without regard to their obviously privileged and sensitive nature and the questionable circumstances surrounding them. It adds no element,” the judge wrote.
Mayorga is a former model and teacher living in the Las Vegas area. Her lawsuit alleges that she met Ronaldo at a nightclub and went with him and others to his hotel suite, where he assaulted her in her bedroom.She was 25 at the time. was. he was 24 years old.
Ronaldo’s legal team does not dispute that Ronaldo met and had sex with Mayorga in June 2009, but claims it was consensual.
Ronaldo, now 37, is one of the highest paid and famous sports stars in the world. He has played for his Premier League clubs in England, Manchester his United, and has captained the national team in his native Portugal. In recent years, he played for his Juventus, a club based in Turin, Italy.
