Cristiano Ronaldo has formed a team of lawyers around him, with whom he wants to defend himself against the rape allegations of the US-American Kathryn Mayorga. His Portuguese lawyer Carlos Osório de Castro, who has been a legal advisor to the football stars for years, has traveled to the US and is assembling a team of lawyers to design a defense strategy.
It is a reaction to the allegations of rape that the Spiegel has uncovered. Last year, the SPIEGEL had already reported on a peace agreement between Ronaldo and the alleged victim Kathryn Mayorga. Two weeks ago, the 34-year-old in the news magazine for the first time publicly raised massive allegations against Ronaldo: He raped her in June 2009 in a hotel in Las Vegas.
The SPIEGEL had also cited from documents in which Ronaldo's team asked before the out of court settlement, the view of Ronaldo on the events in the night in Las Vegas. One of these reports states that Mayorga said "several times no and stop" and Ronaldo then apologized to her. In a later version of the same document, the answers were different. There it is no longer claimed that Mayorga protests and that Ronaldo has apologized.
New lawyer, new statement
Following the release in SPIEGEL, the Las Vegas police said they had resumed investigations in this case. She announced that she intends to investigate the evidence, including DNA traces Mayorga had secured in a hospital on the day of the alleged rape. Even Ronaldo himself want to hear the investigative authorities, a police spokesman announced.
Compared to Mayorga's lawyer should first have the celebrity defense lawyer David Chesnoff reported as Ronaldo's representative. On Wednesday evening, but now a new lawyer commented publicly on the case. The American Peter S. Christiansen had a statement published and distributed by Ronaldo's consulting agency Gestifute. In it Christiansen doubted the SPIEGEL reporting and claimed that "relevant parts" of the documents were "manipulated" or even "complete fakes".
Ronaldo's lawyers have apparently opted for a defense strategy that they have used several times in unpopular reporting. When SPIEGEL first reported in April 2017 on the alleged case of rape and the out-of-court settlement between Mayorga and Ronaldo, the consultants called the report "journalistic fiction". In the statement, however, Christiansen admits now that this settlement was given and that Ronaldo had agreed to it.
"Unreliable" information?
Even when the Spiegel revealed Ronaldo's tax evasion, his lawyers resorted to the same strategy: they said journalists could only use "unreliable" information. Ronaldo denied then the charge of tax evasion. In the meantime, he has confessed to him and paid millions of euros to the Spanish state to avoid a possible prison sentence.
On the alleged rape case of Las Vegas SPIEGEL has several hundred documents from various sources on which the reporting is based.
After years of research, the documents were analyzed and supplemented by further research. All information was carefully checked before publication.
Hard work, athletic talent, honorable behavior
Prior to the publication of the article, SPIEGEL had informed Ronaldo's representative of the search and gave him the opportunity to comment on it. At that time, Ronaldo's legal representatives had not denied that the documents to which the SPIEGEL's inquiry referred were authentic. The accusation of "manipulated" documents now raises Ronaldo's new lawyer, two weeks after the publication of the SPIEGEL article.
In his statement, Ronaldo's defense attorney points out that the settlement was not an admission of guilt. The lawyer writes: "Far from any admission of guilt or other ulterior motive, Ronaldo was advised to settle the charges against him privately to prevent the inevitable attempts now being made to destroy his reputation."
Ronaldo earned this reputation "through hard work, sporting talent and honorable behavior". The player will not comment further and leave all legal matters to his lawyers in the US and in Europe. Ronaldo is confident that "the truth will survive this bustle," writes his lawyer, and he trusts the state of Nevada.
The authorities there are now investigating further in the alleged rape case. As of now, only Kathryn Mayorga and Cristiano Ronaldo know the truth about the events of the night in June 2009. Ronaldo denies the allegation of rape. For the football star applies until further notice, the presumption of innocence.