US judge rejects rape case against Ronaldo in Las Vegas
A US judge dismissed a rape lawsuit against Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo in the English Premier League in Las Vegas on Saturday, Britain's Sky said.
The ruling comes nearly three years after prosecutors said Ronaldo would not face any charges in Las Vegas related to the allegations, which cannot be conclusively proven.
Kathryn Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit in September 2018 in Nevada accusing Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009 before he paid her $375,000 to keep the matter secret.
Ronaldo has pleaded not guilty. US District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed the lawsuit on Friday because of the way the documents were obtained.
The judge said dismissing a case with no option to bring it back was a harsh penalty and that Ronaldo was hurt by the behavior of Mayorga's lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall.
In her ruling, the judge added, "I find that the way to obtain these documents and continue to use them was in bad faith, excluding Stovall will not cure the damage done to Ronaldo because the embezzled documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the fabric of (the plaintiff) claims."
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