Cristiano Ronaldo has finally admitted to paying $375,000 in a settlement and confidentially agreement after sexual assault allegations stemming from a 2009 incident in Las Vegas, according to CNN.
Former model Kathryn Mayorga accused Ronaldo of raping her in a suite at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas in 2009. Ronaldo insisted that they had consensual sex, though Mayorga said that the Juventus star “forced himself on her and penetrated her vaginally and anally while she begged him to stop.”
The two settled out of court in 2010, when Ronaldo paid her $375,000 in the settlement and confidentiality agreement. However, Ronaldo has long denied that he paid her the money after reports of the settlement surfaced in 2017.
Mayorga then went public last August, attempting to void that settlement and have the case reopened, which the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did. However they could not prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt and closed the case again last month.
She filed a civil suit against Ronaldo last year in Clark County District Court, and then moved it to the federal level after Ronaldo proved difficult to serve since he lived abroad. The suit alleged battery, abuse, defamation, negligence and seven other claims, according to Sports Illustrated.
Ronaldo filed a motion on Friday in an attempt to dismiss that lawsuit, which is where the 34-year-old and his legal team finally admitted to the payment.
“The (agreement) made clear Mr. Ronaldo disputed (Mayorga’s) allegations and in no way conceded she was injured,” the motion read, via CNN. “To the contrary, the (agreement) stated in no uncertain terms that Mr. Ronaldo was agreeing to pay (Mayorga) a sum of money in order to maintain the confidentiality of their dispute.”
According to CNN, the motion argues that Nevada’s statute of limitations and the original confidentially agreement void Mayorga’s latest claims in her new lawsuit, and that she failed to provide evidence proving that she lacked the mental capacity to agree to the terms of the agreement in 2010.
In her lawsuit, Mayorga claims that she believed Ronaldo’s representatives were attempting to compensate her for her injuries and that his team was “attempting to obstruct a criminal investigation and erode” her credibility, per CNN. Ronaldo’s motion, however, accused her of failing to provide details for alleged threats and misrepresentations made against her or who made them.
Culled from Yahoo.com sports.
[The Guardian]
