Judge dismisses rape lawsuit against Cristiano Ronaldo

A judge on Friday dismissed a rape lawsuit against Cristiano Ronaldo, filed by a Las Vegas woman who claimed the soccer star sexually assaulted her in 2009.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey, of the District of Nevada, kicked the case out of court citing how some documents used in court by the woman’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, were obtained, and how his conduct harmed the Portuguese soccer star.

Dorsey dismissed the case to punish Stovall, for “bad-faith conduct” and for using “purloined” confidential documents — which tainted the case, according to the judge.

The Manchester United forward had already paid the woman, Kathryn Mayorga, $375,000 in hush money over initial claims that he had raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009, but she was hoping to be paid millions more.

Dorsey wrote that dismissing a case outright, with no option to file it again, was a severe sanction, but added that Ronaldo, 37, had been harmed by Stovall’s conduct.

Breaking News

As it happens

Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts.

“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 Mayorga’s claims,” the judge wrote in her 42-page order.

“Harsh sanctions are merited,” she added.

Mayorga opened up to the German magazine Der Spiegel in September 2018 about the alleged rape, which she said took place in June 2009.

The following month, Ronaldo categorically denied any accusations against him.

“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and that I believe in,” he tweeted in Portuguese.

Mayorga’s lawyers can still appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

With News Wire Services