A woman named Kathryn Mayorga came forward last year to accuse soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo of rape. In a lawsuit, Mayorga stated that back in 2009 she met Ronaldo at Rain nightclub in Las Vegas. Later, Ronaldo allegedly invited her back to his Palms Resort penthouse suite and forcibly sodomized her as she screamed for him to stop.
Ronaldo made a public statement on social media rejecting Mayorga's allegations. "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," he tweeted. "Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense."
Yet, there were rumors that Ronaldo may have paid off Mayorga just a year after their alleged encounter occurred, a bit of gossip that Ronaldo has finally recognized in court documents. TMZ Sports claims that Mayorga stated she received a hefty sum from Ronaldo and, in turn, she wasn't to speak about whatever may or may not have happened between them.
The outlet states Mayorga initially went to the police early on and said she was raped by a soccer star, but she didn't name her alleged assailant. She dropped Ronaldo's name in 2018 but no charges were filed due to lack of evidence. However, she later filed a civil suit against him and he wants the court to toss it out because of their previous agreement.
"Mr. Ronaldo paid Plaintiff the sum of $375,000 and both parties agreed to be bound by explicit confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations," the documents reportedly states, adding that just because he paid her off doesn't mean that he did anything wrong. It was just better for him to pay her to go away and keep the allegations out of the media than endure a public scandal—but Mayorga went for it anyway. Both parties are now awaiting a judge's decision on whether or not Mayorga's lawsuit will move forward.