Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo will avoid facing rape charges in Las Vegas after prosecutor Steve Wolfson said in a statement today that the accusations cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The alleged rape happened in a Las Vegas hotel back in 2009 but wasn’t made public until 2017 when the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that Ronaldo reached a $375,000 settlement in 2010 with a then unidentified woman. That woman was later identified as Kathryn Mayorga, an American who claimed that the Juventus forward raped her in her hotel room and recounted the rape in detail.
Deadspin noted a questionnaire purportedly completed by Ronaldo at the request of his lawyers and obtained by Der Spiegel also backs up her claim.
As far as the settlement goes, both Ronaldo and his lawyers have acknowledged its existence but say that some of the information released and reported by Der Spiegel was fabricated. In fact, Ronaldo and his legal team had previously threatened legal action against the German newspaper for defamation however they have yet to follow through on those threats.
As far as Ms. Mayorga goes, she has now filed a civil suit to challenge the settlement.
