Cristiano Ronaldo accuser comes forward with details of alleged 2009 rape in Las Vegas
A Las Vegas woman is reportedly challenging Cristiano Ronaldo over a 2009 legal settlement in which the soccer superstar agreed to pay her $375,000 to keep silent over an alleged sexual assault.
Kathryn Mayorga came forward Friday as the victim of the alleged incident, speaking with German publication Der Spiegel. Claiming that Ronaldo raped her anally at the Palms Place Hotel in Las Vegas, Mayorga is now attempting to void her non-disclosure agreement settlement according to Reuters.
Per Reuters, Ronaldo has denied all of what his lawyers called “blatantly illegal” accusations and reportedly plans to sue Der Spiegel for “an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy.”
What Cristiano Ronaldo’s accuser is claiming
Der Spiegel had previously reported on the existence of the settlement and the alleged incident last year, reporting Mayorga under the pseudonym Susan K.
At the time of the alleged rape in 2009, Mayorga was reportedly 25 years old and met Ronaldo in the VIP section of a Las Vegas nightclub. At the time, Ronaldo was well in his prime and nearing a massive £80 million transfer to Real Madrid. Mayorga claimed the following happened in a letter written during her legal battle and confirmed them with Der Spiegel on Friday:
In the letter that she wrote to Ronaldo, K. describes what happened later that night of partying. She writes that she gave him her number. That he called her later and invited her to a party. Afterward, they went to his penthouse. When K. arrived together with a girlfriend, she writes that Ronaldo and his friends climbed into the [hot tub]. And that he offered her swimwear. She claims that he followed her as she went to change, and that the two kissed. But K. writes that this wasn’t enough for Ronaldo. She writes that she wanted to go back to the others. She continues that he took her and put her on the bed. That she used both hands as she attempted to protect herself. “I screamed NO NO NO NO NO NOOOO over and over I begged you to stop. I was never so scared in my life,” K. writes in the letter.
After it was over, Ronaldo allegedly turned to her again and supposedly said 99 percent of the time he was a good guy, but that he doesn’t know what happened to that 1 percent. That’s what K. writes in her letter.
Mayorga said she has since faced emotional trauma from the incident, a common occurrence with sexual assaults.
“I’ve had like these serious breakdowns,” she told the magazine. “And again, blaming of the rape. And I blame him, and I blame myself for signing that thing.”
Not Ronaldo’s first rape allegation
Ronaldo had previously been arrested and questioned over allegations in 2005 that he had raped a woman in a London hotel, but that case was eventually abandoned by Scotland Yard due to insufficient evidence. Ronaldo was 20 years old at the time.
Why Kathryn Mayorga is now coming forward
Mayorga seems to be facing a massive risk over coming out against Ronaldo, as their non-disclosure agreement reportedly contains clauses obliging her to pay back the $375,000 from the settlement as well as any actual damages caused to Ronaldo according to Der Spiegel.
Despite all that, Mayorga said she had multiple reasons to come out against Ronaldo.
From Deadspin:
Mayorga’s motivation for coming forward with her story now are three-fold. For one, she has been convinced by her lawyer that she can challenge the settlement in court, and she seeks to bring a new suit that would finally give her some semblance of the justice she’s long sought. Secondly, she has felt empowered by the Me Too movement and other women’s bravery in naming and standing up to their assailants in sexual assaults. Thirdly, she wants her case to receive public attention to discover if Ronaldo has ever done this to anyone else. “That question never let me go,” Mayorga told Der Spiegel.
Mayorga’s new laywer, Leslie Stovall, has reportedly filed suit in Nevada to void the agreement, claiming that it shouldn’t be legally binding due to the terms allegedly impeding a possible criminal investigation, the settlement failing to take into account Mayorga’s learning disabilities and the mental trauma Mayorga faced after the incident that could have affected her decision-making. He also claims that he has documents implying that Ronaldo violated the agreement by never actually reading Mayorga’s letter as negotiated.
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