Cristiano Ronaldo Accuser in Palms Casino Claim Revives Case

Posted on: October 4, 2023, 06:54h. 

Last updated on: October 5, 2023, 11:35h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A Las Vegas woman who claims she was raped by Cristiano Ronaldo at his Palms Casino penthouse in 2009 is seeking to revive her case against the soccer superstar.

Ronaldo, Katheryn Mayorga, Palms casino, rape.
Cristiano Ronaldo, pictured in his Man Utd. days. The superstar has since signed for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. (Image Getty)

Kathryn Mayorga wants a U.S. appeals court to revive her civil lawsuit against the Portuguese player, which was filed in 2018 and dismissed last year by a federal judge in Nevada.

A three-judge appellate panel is expected to hear oral arguments from both parties Wednesday at a special sitting in Las Vegas.

In the original case, the hacktivist “Football Leaks” website leaked legal documents. They were published in October 2018 by German news magazine Der Spiegel. In them, an individual purported to be Ronaldo appears to admit that sex was not consensual. Ronaldo’s lawyers argued the files were stolen and falsified by hackers.

Ronaldo has continued to deny the allegations, claiming that sex was consensual. Las Vegas police came close to charging the footballer in 2019, and even applied for an arrest warrant. The case was dropped after Clark County AG Steve Wolfson concluded the claim could “not be proved beyond reasonable doubt.”

‘Bad Faith’

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey tossed the suit after she determined Mayorga’s attorney based much of his case on privileged conversations between Ronaldo and his lawyer, which shouldn’t have been publicly submitted as evidence.

Dismissing the case in 2022, Dorsey said Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Stoval, acted in “bad faith” by relying on the Football Leaks documents, which amounted to a “flagrant circumvention of the proper litigation process.” Conversations between attorneys and their clients must remain confidential.

Mayorga called the LVMPD on June 13, 2009, to report a sexual assault, according to the DA and court records.

A medical examination revealed she had circumferential rectal swelling with bruising and a laceration, injuries consistent with anal rape. According to court documents, she refused to disclose the alleged perpetrator’s name because she feared public humiliation and retribution.

Coercion Claim

In 2010, she signed a nondisclosure agreement, consenting to drop all claims against Ronaldo for a $375K settlement, which the star’s lawyers assert was not an admission of guilt.

Mayorga claims she was coerced into signing the agreement by the star’s team of legal fixers and reputation management specialists at a time when she was “mentally incapacitated.”

The publication of the Football Leaks documents, which coincided with the viral spread of the #MeToo movement, emboldened her to sue Ronaldo, claiming battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, coercion, fraud, and abuse of a vulnerable person.

Mayorga’s appeal argues that the lower court shouldn’t have rejected her attempt to unseal the 2009 nondisclosure agreement and use it as evidence. However, the Football Leaks documents cannot be submitted as evidence because they cannot be proven authentic.