Ronaldo not charged in rape investigation
LAS VEGAS—Cristiano Ronaldo won’t face criminal charges after a woman accused the soccer star of raping her in his suite at a Las Vegas resort more than 10 years ago, a top prosecutor said Monday.
A new investigation by Las Vegas police failed to show that Kathryn Mayorga’s claim could be proven at trial beyond a reasonable doubt, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said.
“Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming,” Wolfson said in a statement.
The decision represented a victory on one of two legal tracks tied to the 2009 allegation against one of the most recognizable and highly paid players in sports.
In a lawsuit still pending in federal court, Mayorga alleges that she was pressured to sign an agreement to keep quiet in exchange for $375,000. Her lawyers want to void the deal and collect at least $200,000 more from Ronaldo.
Ronaldo’s attorneys have acknowledged that the soccer star and Mayorga had consensual sex in June 2009, but they denied it was rape. Attorney Peter Christiansen was traveling Monday and wasn’t immediately available to comment.
Attorneys for Mayorga, a former model and schoolteacher, did not immediately respond to telephone, text and email messages.
Her lawsuit says she met Ronaldo at a nightclub and went with him and other people to his suite at the Palms Hotel and Casino, where he assaulted her in a bedroom. Afterward, she signed a non-disclosure agreement under pressure from “fixers” trying to protect Ronaldo’s reputation, her lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, has said.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas accuses Ronaldo or those working for him of conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud for allegedly allowing terms of the settlement to become public in European publications.