Europe 1 with AFP 8:43 p.m., June 11, 2022

Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was the target of a rape complaint filed by a former American model in the United States.

She was dismissed by a judge on Saturday.

As early as 2019, justice had decided not to prosecute the star criminally, for lack of evidence.

Cristiano Ronaldo is off the hook.

While he was the subject of a complaint for rape in the United States, the latter has just been dismissed by the American justice, because of the irregularities alleged against the lawyer of the plaintiff Kathryn Mayorga.

This former model accused the football star of having raped her in 2009 in a hotel in Las Vegas. 

American justice had decided in 2019 not to prosecute Ronaldo in criminal proceedings, for lack of evidence.

In civil matters, a judge had recommended in October to dismiss the complaint of Kathryn Mayorga, now 37, considering that it was partly based on pirated documents from "Football leaks" which should not have been find in his possession.

In his recommendations, he accused the young woman's lawyer, Leslie Stovall, of having acted with "bad faith" in this case.

The Nevada federal court followed these recommendations for these same reasons, while claiming to "recognize" the "severity" of its decision for the plaintiff.

A case reopened in August 2018

The striker, who currently plays for English club Manchester United, has always strongly denied these rape accusations, claiming to have had a "completely consensual" relationship with the young woman.

In June 2009, the plaintiff had certainly called the police of Las Vegas to denounce a rape but she had refused to identify her attacker.

The file was then closed.

A "private mediation" was organized shortly after with representatives of Ronaldo, resulting in a financial transaction in 2010: 375,000 dollars in exchange for absolute confidentiality on the alleged facts or the agreement, as well as the abandonment of any procedure.

For Mrs. Mayorga's current lawyers, this agreement is null and void, in particular because of the psychological disorder of their client at the time and the pressure exerted against her.

They demanded up to $200 million in compensation from Ronaldo.

It was in August 2018 that the complainant contacted the Las Vegas police again and asked for her case to be reopened, publicly accusing the footballer for the first time.