Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated the hot tub in question was a Jacuzzi brand hot tub. The brand of hot tub is not known.
Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Las Vegas in 2009, according to a lawsuit filed in a Nevada district court.
The allegations were first detailed in German magazine Der Spiegel, which Ronaldo’s lawyers have since threatened to sue. Ronaldo has denied the allegations on social media.
His accuser, Kathryn Mayorga, is looking to void a $375,000 settlement that her lawyer Leslie Stovall alleges she signed under duress and while psychologically unstable as a result of the alleged sexual assault.
WATCH: Cristiano Ronaldo sued over allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Las Vegas in 2009
The alleged incident took place at Ronaldo’s luxury penthouse suite at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on June 13, 2009.
Mayorga, then 25 years old, was working in a nearby nightclub that evening when she was approached by Ronaldo, then 24, who bought her a drink before inviting her and her friends back to his suite, Der Spiegel reported on Friday.
Once at the suite, Ronaldo offered Mayorga something to wear in the hot tub, and while she was changing in the bathroom, allegedly entered the bathroom with his penis exposed, according to both Der Spiegel and the lawsuit.
He then asked Mayorga to perform oral sex, but after she refused, pulled her into a bedroom and raped her even as she screamed, “No, no, no” and tried to cover herself, the lawsuit states.
Ronaldo is alleged to have apologized immediately after the act, stating that he was usually a gentleman, before allowing Mayorga to leave.
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Mayorga reported the sexual assault to police that evening, but didn’t identify Ronaldo by name until weeks later because she feared retaliation and humiliation at the hands of the athlete, his representatives or his legions of fans, according to the lawsuit.
Ronaldo’s lawyers and fixers are accused of then taking advantage of Mayorga’s vulnerable state by threatening to publicly accuse her of misusing a consensual sexual encounter to extort money.
A private mediation session was then arranged between Mayorga’s lawyer and Ronaldo’s legal team, during which Mayorga is said to have been visibly disturbed, erratic and unstable. Ronaldo himself did not attend, even though Mayorga had reportedly agreed to the mediation under the condition that she be allowed to personally confront him.
A $375,000 settlement was negotiated, with Mayorga made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
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However, earlier this year, Mayorga obtained leaked copies of documents and email communications between Ronaldo and his representatives which outlined their strategy to protect his reputation and cast doubt on the accuser’s credibility, according to the lawsuit.
The documents were obtained via Football Leaks, a controversial whistle-blowing platform that publishes confidential information about famous soccer players, often to do with their salaries, team transfer fees and tax avoidance.
Mayorga supplied the documents to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) in late August.
The LVMPD told Global News that it had reopened an investigation into a sexual assault call dating to June 13, 2009, although it declined to state whether Ronaldo was the subject of the probe.
“The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call of a sexual assault on June 13, 2009. At the time the report was taken, the victim did not provide detectives with the location of the incident or suspect description. A medical exam was conducted,” the police department told Global News in an emailed statement.
“As of September 2018, the case has been reopened and our detectives are following up on information being provided by the victim. This is an on-going investigation and no further details will be released at this time.”
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Mayorga’s lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $200,000, and states that she suffered severe physical, psychological and emotional damage as a result of the alleged incident.
It names as the defendants Ronaldo as well as a team of “fixers” who aren’t identified by name.
Ronaldo’s lawyers had reacted angrily to the Der Spiegel report, saying in a statement on Friday that they planned to sue the magazine for “blatantly illegal” reporting which “violates the personal rights of our client Cristiano Ronaldo in an exceptionally serious way.”
However, Der Spiegel’s sports editor Christoph Winterbach stood by his publication’s reporting, posting a widely-shared Twitter thread which outlined how his magazine researched, sourced and reported the allegations.
Ronaldo denied the allegations on Wednesday, taking to Twitter to state that he believes rape is “an abominable crime” that he would never commit, and that he had a clear conscience on the matter.
Ronaldo, 33, is widely considered one of the greatest soccer players ever and is one of the world’s most recognizable athletes.
The alleged sexual assault took place just two days after Ronaldo’s then-record-breaking transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid.
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The Portugal captain left Real Madrid for Juventus this summer; the Italian club has declined to comment on the allegations.
In an Instagram video posted Friday, Ronaldo dismissed the Der Spiegel story as “fake news.”
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