Ronaldo ‘paid model $540,000 after assault in Las Vegas hotel’
Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s most famous footballer, paid NZ$540,000 in a confidential settlement to a woman who accused him of rape, says a German magazine.
Kathryn Mayorga, 34, says she has broken a non-disclosure agreement she claims she signed with the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star to repeat her allegation that he forcibly had sex with her in a hotel room.
The former model claims Ronaldo assaulted her at the Palms Place hotel in Las Vegas, before later apologising.
This weekend, a lawyer acting for the Portuguese striker, one of the best-paid sports stars with assets estimated at £300 million (NZ$590m), categorically denied the allegations, which were published in Der Spiegel magazine.
Christian Schertz said he would seek compensation on behalf of Ronaldo for ‘‘moral damages in an amount corresponding to the gravity of the infringement, which is probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years’’.
Mayorga claims she met Ronaldo in 2009 in Rain, a nightclub in Las Vegas. Paparazzi
pictures from the evening show her talking to and dancing with the footballer. Mayorga claims she did not know who he was. They exchanged numbers and she says she later got a text from him inviting her and a friend to a party in his suite.
Mayorga claims Ronaldo suggested they go swimming in his pool but while she changed in the bathroom he came in exposing himself and asked her to touch him. After asking her for a kiss, she alleges he ‘‘touched me all over ... I pushed him away and again said ’no’.’’
He began to pull off her underwear, she told Der Spiegel, then pinned her down. ‘‘When he was finished he still didn’t want to let me go,’’ she claimed. ‘‘He looked at me, full of guilt, and started calling me ‘baby’. I can’t remember exactly what he said but he said sorry, asking if I had pain. Then he went down on his knees and said: ‘99 per cent of me is a good guy, I just don’t know about the other 1 per cent’.’’
Her friend, who was also in the penthouse, said Mayorga emerged from the bathroom ‘‘in a complete state, her hair was dishevelled and her make-up smudged’’.
She says she filed a rape report with the police the next day. In 2010, however, Mayorga says she and Ronaldo agreed a £275,000 settlement in which she agreed to drop all charges and never speak of the incident again. Mayorga now says she signed the settlement out of fear.
She has hired a new lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, who questions the legality of the outof-court settlement and has filed a civil complaint that seeks to declare it void.
Schertz said in a statement that the Der Spiegel report was ‘‘an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy’’, and that he would seek legal redress for his client from the magazine. – The Times
‘‘He looked at me, full of guilt, and started calling me ‘baby’.’’ Kathryn Mayorga