File photo of Cristiano Ronaldo.© AFP
A US district judge in Las Vegas has dismissed a rape trial against the football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, slamming the legal team behind the complaint. Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed the case brought by Katherine Mayorga of Nevada, who alleged she was assaulted by a Portuguese football star in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. In a 42-page ruling released Friday, the judge accused Mayorga’s lawyers of “misconduct.” and a clear violation of due process of litigation” and added that as a result, “Mayorga loses her opportunity to pursue this matter.”
Her attorneys actually moved last month to have the case dismissed voluntarily, US media said, but Dorsey decided that his repeated use of illegally obtained confidential documents meant that the case was “prejudiced”. with” had to be discarded – meaning it could not be revived.
Dorsey wrote, “Nothing less than a dismissal with prejudice will remove the stain that has permeated this case from its inception and upholds the integrity of the litigation process.”
Mayorga filed a complaint in September last year alleging that she was sexually abused ronaldowho vehemently denied the allegations.
Mayorga said she had agreed to a financial settlement with Ronaldo shortly after the alleged incident – reportedly for $375,000 – as her emotional trauma at the time did not allow her to participate in the mediation process.
But in trying to revive the case, Dorsey found, Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Stovall, repeatedly used “cyber-hacked attorney-client privileged documents.”
publicized
The judge ruled that the use of the documents was “bad faith,” and that merely disqualifying Stovall would not treat Ronaldo as prejudice, as the falsified documents and his confidential material were woven into the fabric of Mayorga’s claims. Is.”
Ronaldo is one of the biggest stars of world football and a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world.
Topics mentioned in this article