Cristiano Ronaldo's Lawyers Confirm Past Hush Payment to Rape Accuser
Cristiano Ronaldo's lawyers admitted for the first time that there was a settlement in place to 'maintain confidentiality' following allegations that he raped a woman in Las Vegas in 2009.
Kathryn Mayorga alleges that she was sexually assaulted by the Portugal international, with a $375,000 settlement being reached to prevent the allegations being made public.
Following Mayorga's attempt to invalidate the agreement last year, Ronaldo's legal team have for the first time acknowledged that the Juventus forward did pay a settlement fee "to maintain the confidentiality of their dispute".
That came during a motion which was filed on Friday in an attempt to throw out Mayorga's lawsuit.
Most of the motion was redacted, but CNN have published a small excerpt in relation to why Ronaldo signed the settlement agreement nine years ago, insisting that the fact an agreement happens to be in place doesn't imply guilt.
It reads: "The [agreement] made clear Mr. Ronaldo disputed [Mayorga's] allegations and in no way conceded she was injured. 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."
It was confirmed by her lawyer last month that the initial claim in civil court had been dropped, with the case instead moving to the federal level.
It still looks to invalidate the settlement agreement from 2010 on the grounds that Ronaldo and his legal team took advantage of Mayorga's fragile and emotional state, coercing her into signing the agreement over claims she would face a public backlash.
This new motion from Ronaldo's legal team claims that the previous settlement agreement, as well as Nevada's statute of limitations, make Mayorga's lawsuit null and void.
It was also claimed that Mayorga has failed to present any evidence that she 'lacked the mental capacity' to agree to the settlement.
To date, no criminal charges have been filed regarding the alleged incident.
