Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers claim rape allegation documents have been altered
Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers have said documents that appear to substantiate Kathryn Mayorga’s claims of rape by the Juventus forward had been altered.
Peter S Christiansen, a Las Vegasbased attorney, was hired by Ronaldo last week after Mayorga went public with her claims. In a statement released via the player’s representatives, Christiansen says documents that apparently show Ronaldo acknowledging he had sex with Mayorga without her consent had been fabricated by hackers.
“The documents that allegedly contain statements by Cristiano Ronaldo and were reproduced in the media are pure inventions,” Christiansen said. “So there are no doubts: Cristiano Ronaldo vehemently denies all the accusations in this civil action, in consistency with what he has done in the last nine years.
“By 2015, dozens of entities [including law firms] in different parts of Europe were attacked and saw a lot of information on their electronic equipment being stolen by a hacker. This hacker then tried to sell such information, having now a media outlet irresponsibly publishing some of the stolen documents, significant parts of which were altered and/or completely forged.”
The documents referred to by Christiansen were ultimately shared by the website Football Leaks with the German magazine Der Spiegel, who went on to establish Ms Mayorga’s identity and encouraged her to share her story. Their 9,000-word interview, published two weeks ago, contained details of the documents.
In a statement, Der Spiegel said: “The statement that was issued by Peter Christiansen on behalf of Cristiano Ronaldo presents the usual path that Mr Ronaldo and his lawyers have taken in the past when unsuccessfully fighting our investigative work.
“We stand by our reporting. Our story is carefully researched. We have
hundreds of documents from different sources that substantiate our reporting. We have no reason to believe that those documents are not authentic. Furthermore, as always and before publishing every single article, we have meticulously fact-checked our information and had it legally reviewed.”
Las Vegas police have since reopened an investigation into the alleged assault, which Mayorga says took place in Ronaldo’s hotel room in the city’s Palms Casino resort. Mayorga is also bringing a civil case against the player. Lawyers for the 34-year-old say she signed a non-disclosure agreement with the player in 2010 but chose to break it after learning of some of the contents of the documents.
Up until now Ronaldo has not acknowledged any agreement with Mayorga but in his statement Christiansen confirmed it did exist. “Cristiano Ronaldo does not deny he agreed to conclude an agreement with [Ms Mayorga] but the reasons that led him to do so are at least to be misrepresented. This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt.
“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.”