Claims that a lawsuit which levelled an allegation of rape against Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo in the US had been dropped appear premature.
Bloomberg reported that a notice of voluntary dismissal was filed last month in Nevada state court in Las Vegas. However, Der Spiegel claim that the case is not closed but moved from state to federal court. The change is reportedly down to Mayorga's lawyers being unable to physically serve Ronaldo with the complaint.
Kathryn Mayorga filed the complaint against the Juventus footballer in September last year with the alleged incident taking place at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
Ronaldo had denied the allegations and claimed that the pair had participated in consensual sex, writing on Twitter in October: "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in."
The case is not closed, it is just at a different court now. After it was not possible for Mayorga‘s lawyers to serve #Ronaldo with the complaint, they filed it at a federal court: https://t.co/tEvIoeJDq6 @derWinterbach @andreasmeyhoff @antjewindmann @SPIEGELONLINE
— Rafael Buschmann (@Rafanelli) June 5, 2019
"My clear conscious will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations", Ronaldo added in another tweet on the same day. Ronaldo's lawyers never filed a response to the lawsuit.
Mayorga said in her complaint that she had previously agreed to a settlement with Ronaldo but due to the trauma she was suffering she was not competent to participate in the agreement.
Mayorga accused the former Manchester United forward of dispatching a team of "fixers" to obstruct a criminal investigation and trick her into keeping quiet for $375,000 (€325,000).
Following the complaint last year, Las Vegas police had reopened the investigation of rape allegations. The New York Times reported in January that law enforcement officials had requested a sample of the soccer player’s DNA from Italian authorities.
The New York Times stated in March that Juventus would not participate in the International Champions Cup in the U.S. due to the risk of Ronaldo being detained as a part of the rape investigation.
There has been no comment yet from either Ronaldo, Mayorga or the Las Vegas police to the latest development in the story.
Not covered in many of the newspapers this morning, @EoinSheahan nevertheless brings you the latest news from the case Cristiano Ronaldo faces.
Full Papers 👉 https://t.co/6hzzCmX5e4 pic.twitter.com/XifusIg7b1— Off The Ball (@offtheball) May 24, 2019
