Cristiano Ronaldo’s rape lawsuit has been dismissed by a US judge in Las Vegas.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in Las Vegas kicked the case out of court on Friday to punish the woman’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, for “bad-faith conduct” and the use of leaked and stolen documents.
"I find that the procurement and continued use of these documents was bad faith, and simply disqualifying Stovall will not cure the prejudice to Ronaldo because the misappropriated documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the very fabric of (plaintiff Kathryn) Mayorga’s claims," the ruling said.
Ms Mayorga, who waived her right to anonymity, was trying to make the Manchester United star pay millions of dollars more than the $375,000 in hush money she received after claiming he raped her in Las Vegas in 2009.
Dorsey said in her 42-page order that dismissing a case outright with no option to file it again is a severe sanction, but said Ronaldo had been harmed by Stovall’s conduct.
Attorneys on both sides are yet to comment.
Dorsey had signaled earlier this year she was ready to end the case after Stovall failed to meet a procedural deadline in his bid for more than $25 million in damages based on allegations Ronaldo or his associates violated a 2010 confidentiality agreement by letting reports about it appear in European publications in 2017.
The footballer’s legal team blamed the reports on electronic data leaks of documents hacked from law firms and other entities in Europe and put up for sale. Christiansen alleged also information was altered or fabricated.
Mayorga is a former model and teacher who lives in the Las Vegas area.
Her lawsuit said she met the star at a nightclub and went with him and other people to his hotel suite, where she alleged he assaulted her in a bedroom. She was 25 at the time. He was 24.
Ronaldo’s legal team does not dispute he met Mayorga and they had sex in June 2009, but maintained it was consensual and not rape.
Mayorga went to Las Vegas police at the time, but the investigation was dropped because Mayorga neither identified her alleged attacker by name nor said where the incident took place, police and prosecutors said.
Las Vegas police reopened their rape investigation after Mayorga’s lawsuit was filed, but Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson decided in 2019 not to pursue criminal charges.
Wolfson, the elected public prosecutor in Las Vegas, said too much time had passed and evidence failed to show that Mayorga’s accusation could be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
