Cristiano Ronaldo wins £280k from rape accuser's lawyer over false claims

The saga concerning the rape allegations against football star Cristiano Ronaldo may finally be over. The Portuguese star has reportedly won £278,000 from his rape accuser's lawyer after a US judged ruled that the latter had acted in "bad faith" over the sexual assault allegations.

It may be remembered that the complainant, Kathryn Mayorga, alleged that Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009. She claimed that he had silenced her and stopped her from filing criminal charges with a £275,000 payout in 2010. However, she decided to pursue a civil case and asked for millions more eight years later.

US district judge Jennifer Dorsey threw out the case in June 2022 after it was found that Mayorga's lawyer, Leslie Stovall, had used "stolen, privileged documents to prosecute the case had every indicia of bad faith conduct." She is pertaining to hacked documents that allegedly show conversations between Ronaldo and his lawyers while they were discussing the rape allegations. The same documents have been labelled as "fake" by the footballer's team.

Now, Stovall has been ordered to personally pay Ronaldo £278,000, which amounts to more than half of the £506,000 legal fees that he was trying to recover.

Prior to the ruling, Mayorga's lawyers had also attempted to ask Ronaldo's side to provide billing statements from his legal team which could prove that he had received discounts from his total legal fees. This request was denied by the judge.

The ruling comes after the former Manchester United player accused Stovall of "reckless conduct" in handling the case.

"Ronaldo would not have incurred a majority of the fees and costs that he spent on this litigation had it not been for the plaintiff counsel's bad faith," said Dorsey, as quoted by The Sun.

Ronaldo, who now plays for Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, has always maintained that he and Mayorga had consensual sexual relations. The pair met at the VIP area of Rain nightclub in Las Vegas in Palms Casino Resort.

"It was clear early on that Mayorga's allegations were rooted in the purloined materials," said the judge.