A US judge dismissed the federal civil case alleging that soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo raped a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009.
Judge Jennifer Dorsey concurred with a federal magistrate's recommendation that a lawyer for accuser Kathryn Mayorga had engaged in misconduct and that a fair trial for the Portuguese athlete would be unattainable.
Judge Dorsey wrote: "Because of her attorney's abuses and flagrant circumvention of the proper litigation process, Mayorga loses her opportunity to pursue this case and attempt to unwind the settlement of claims that, themselves, implicate serious allegations of a highly personal nature."
Mayorga cannot refile the lawsuit because it was dismissed with prejudice, per a CNN report.
Stolen Confidential Documents
Following the alleged rape, Mayorga said she was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement and a $375,000 compensation. Ronaldo has maintained it was a consensual sexual encounter. Mayorga had requested the judge to throw out the agreement.
The settlement's presence was originally disclosed in 2017 by the German tabloid Der Spiegel, which relied on leaked confidential communications from Ronaldo's lawyers.
According to the court, Leslie Stovall, one of Mayorga's attorneys, contacted the source of the leak to request the documents, which included "the reporting and communications of the attorneys and investigators representing and defending Ronaldo following the sexual assault through the negotiations and conclusion of the settlement and non-disclosure agreement,"
Judge Dorsey stated that Stovall repeatedly used "stolen, privileged documents to prosecute" the case, which "has every indicia of bad-faith conduct."
The judge also said that simply striking the leaked documents from the case and disqualifying Stovall would not adequately address the misconduct as "the misappropriated documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the very fabric of Mayorga's claims."
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Insufficient Evidence To Prove Allegation
Per NBC News, Mayorga is a former model and instructor who currently resides in Las Vegas. According to her lawsuit, she met Ronaldo at a nightclub and went to his hotel suite with him and other people, where she claims he raped her in a bedroom. She was 25 years old at the time. He was 24.
She spoke with police the next day, but she didn't provide them with Ronaldo's name or the location of the alleged attack.
Mayorga filed the civil complaint in Nevada in 2018 (later transferred from state to federal court), and police decided to reopen the criminal probe when Mayorga requested it.
In July 2019, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson stated that no charges would be filed because there was insufficient evidence to prove Mayorga's claims beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Mayorga, who received $375,000 from Ronaldo in 2010 as part of a confidentiality deal after accusing him of rape, has filed a civil complaint seeking over $68 million in damages.
According to Ritter, her legal team argued that papers published by German publication Der Spiegel invalidated the previous agreement, and Stovall stated during the lawsuit that his client lacked the "mental capacity" to sign the 2010 agreement.
Neither legal team has responded publicly to Friday's decision as of present reporting.
Ronaldo, 37, is in his second run with Manchester United, having previously played for Sporting Lisbon, Real Madrid, and Juventus, as per a report from Bleacher Report.
Portugal's record goal scorer also serves as the captain of the country's national team, which has qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 2022. The tournament will begin in November.
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