Ronaldo’s lawyers and a ‘malicious and coercive bid to silence rape accuser’
CRISTIANO Ronaldo’s legal team used ‘malicious and coercive’ tactics to silence a woman who accused him of rape – and bragged how effective they were, new documents allege.
A lawsuit claims that Ronaldo’s advisers used ‘reputation protection specialists’ to put Kathryn Mayorga under surveillance and report back to the footballer.
The Juventus and Portugal star’s advisers also allegedly threatened to falsely claim she had consensual sex with him and was accusing him of rape to make money.
When she agreed to accept £270,000 hush money, Ronaldo’s team wrote: ‘We have fully succeeded.’ They added: ‘We anticipate being able to wrap this up and close this matter in short order.’
They explained they had avoided the ‘devastating impact on his endorsement opportunities’ and had protected his ‘personal and professional reputation’.
Miss Mayorga, 34, alleges Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel nine years ago. She is speaking out and has given evidence to Las Vegas police because she claims her hush deal is invalid.
Last night, police said they had reopened the rape investigation. As a result, Ronaldo could be questioned.
A spokesman said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call of a sexual assault on June 13, 2009 but the alleged victim ‘did not provide detectives with the location of the incident or suspect description. A medical exam was conducted.’ They added: ‘The case has been reopened and our detectives are following up on information provided’ by the alleged victim.
Ronaldo’s girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez, has backed him on Instagram.
Last week, Miss Mayorga’s lawyers filed a civil lawsuit in Las Vegas that accuses Ronaldo of being part of a ‘conshe spiracy’ to obstruct the criminal case against him. The lawsuit accuses Ronaldo and his legal team of 11 counts including coercion, fraud, abuse of a vulnerable person and racketeering, which relates to the work by Ronaldo and his team to ‘obstruct the criminal investigation’ against him, it is alleged.
The lawsuit claims that after the alleged rape Ronaldo, 33, hired a team of fixers to investigate Miss Mayorga, her family and her friends. His team allegedly pressured Miss Mayorga, who has quit her job as a teacher, to reach the settlement and not to contact police.
As the negotiations continued Ronaldo was allegedly given a portrait of Miss Mayorga as a ‘vulnerable person’ experiencing ‘severe psychological injury’ as a result of the claimed rape.
Ronaldo was allegedly informed that was having therapy, was abusing alcohol as she tried to cope, was unemployed and had contemplated suicide.
The lawsuit includes what appears to be an internal message from Ronaldo’s team boasting how they had negotiated an ‘ incredibly favourable settlement’ – the £270,000 – equivalent to a week’s wages with Real Madrid, his football club at the time. The message says Ronaldo ‘could have been jailed for life’ and could have suffered the ‘catastrophic effect’ of not being able to play in the US.
But buying Miss Mayorga’s silence had averted ‘ the devastating impact such claims would have had on his personal and professional reputation, endorsement and professional opportunities’.
The message also boasted about the ‘invaluable work’ Ronaldo’s team had done and said that they had ‘fully succeeded in their mission’.
The allegations were published by German magazine Der Spiegel, which claimed that in messages to his lawyers Ronaldo admitted Miss Mayorga told him to stop but he continued to engage in sex acts. Ronaldo’s lawyers have said that the claims are ‘inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy’.