Kathryn Mayorga, the woman who alleges that Cristiano Ronaldo raped her, has revealed extensive details of the events she claims took place in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009.
The 34-year-old teacher claims the superstar footballer forced her to have sex with him in the bathroom of his penthouse suite, despite repeatedly being told not to. Mayorga also revealed the protracted legal process by which she subsequently agreed to settle the claims. It was an agreement which, her lawyers claim, was never honoured by Ronaldo and contains documents that prove he knew she had not consented.
Ronaldo has vehemently denied all the allegations.
Mayorga said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine that she had chosen to go public in the wake of the #MeToo revelations. By breaking her end of the agreement, she may now face the possibility of having to pay back $375,000 awarded to her eight years ago, on top of legal fees, in an out-of-court settlement reported by Der Spiegel.
The alleged assault occurred in the summer that Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid to become the then most expensive player in the world. He went on to enjoy unparalleled success in Spain, forging a reputation as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He captained Portugal to victory in the European Championships of 2016 and this summer completed a £90m transfer to Juventus in Italy.
In the interview, Mayorga alleges that Ronaldo met her in a nightclub, Rain, where she was working and invited her back to his hotel room. He then forced her to have anal sex with him after she had rebuffed a series of advances.
“Basically he ... he begged me to touch his penis for 30 seconds,” she said. “I was laughing at him because I thought, ‘Is this a joke? This guy that is so famous and so hot ... he’s a frickin’ loser and a creep.’”
Mayorga said she agreed to kiss Ronaldo on the understanding he would then leave her alone, but that instead he increased his assertiveness and began groping her, before finally forcing her into sex. She claimed she said no several times, but he ignored her.
“After he assaulted me, he wouldn’t let me leave again. He wouldn’t let me leave”, Mayorga told Der Spiegel.
Mayorga allegedly filed a complaint with Las Vegas police the next day. But she refused to name her assailant. She says she was then in shock for three months before ultimately determining to draw a line under the matter by agreeing to a settlement.
The many documents that comprised this agreement included questions asked of Ronaldo by his own lawyers. According to Der Spiegel, an earlier version of the questionnaire he was asked to fill out allegedly includes an admission from Ronaldo that “she said no and stop several times”. It is not known whether such an admission was included in the final version of the questionnaire.
As part of the settlement, Mayorga allegedly wrote a letter to Ronaldo that his lawyers were obliged to make sure he had read within a fortnight of the agreement. It is asserted by Mayorga’s lawyers, Der Spiegel reports, that this commitment was never fulfilled.
According to Der Spiegel, the money that was paid to Mayorga as part of the settlement came from a bank account in the tax haven of British Virgin Islands, registered to a company that had held Ronaldo’s earnings from advertising and sponsorship.
Ronaldo categorically denies all the allegations and says that sex between the pair was consensual.
Ronaldo’s lawyer, Christian Schertz, said the Spiegel report “is manifestly illegal and violates the personal rights of our client Cristiano Ronaldo in an extremely serious way” and is “one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years”.