Cristiano Ronaldo's bid to prevent the publication of police files about a sex assault he allegedly committed almost 13 years ago will be heard by a Las Vegas court this week.
Ronaldo, who has been accused by Kathryn Mayorga of raping her in a hotel room in June 2009, is fighting an attempt by a newspaper to be given access to documents held by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The legal team acting on behalf of the Manchester United star argue that much of the information was obtained illegally by the Football Leaks website and is a breach of attorney-client privilege.
Ronaldo has always fiercely denied the claims, saying in 2018 that the accusation was "against everything that I am and believe in."
Ms Mayorga’s lawyers agree that all information obtained by an alleged computer hack shouldn’t be published until a court has ruled on whether it does infringe Ronaldo’s legal rights.
But they believe that the rest of the 400-plus documents should be released to the New York Times.
Judge Jennifer A Dorsey will hear legal arguments from both sides in court on Tuesday.
A final hearing to deliver a ruling on Ronaldo’s efforts to keep all police files out of the public domain will be scheduled for a later date.
His lawyers filed a “protective order” to prevent their release in November, after the LVMPD confirmed that they were planning to hand material to the newspaper.
The files, although redacted in parts, includes crime reports, property records, voluntary statements by both accuser and accused, and other communications with detectives.
The initial hearing has twice been delayed by covid outbreaks on both sides.
Four months ago, a US magistrate judge recommended that an attempt by Ms Mayorga to sue Ronaldo for more than £56million should be dismissed because her case relied so heavily on documents obtained from Football Leaks.
A final ruling on whether her fight for damages may go ahead is yet to be announced.
She accepted a $375,000 (£276,260) payment from Ronaldo a few months after the alleged attack in his hotel suite at the Palms Place Hotel and signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Las Vegas police confirmed in 2019 that Ronaldo would not be facing a criminal prosecution after reopening their investigation into him the previous year.
Ms Mayorga refused to confirm the identity of her alleged attacker when she made a complaint to the LVMPD the day after meeting Ronaldo.
But she named the Portuguese forward and waived her rights to anonymity in an interview with Der Spiegel in 2018 after the German publication had been given information by Football Leaks.
Ms Mayorga said she felt compelled to speak out following the growth of the #MeToo movement after it was revealed Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually assaulted a number of women.
Ronaldo was negotiating his £80million departure from United to Real Madrid when the attack was alleged to have taken place.
He returned to United last summer after spending three years with Juventus and is the club’s top goalscorer.
