Kathryn Mayorga’s attorney has to pay Cristiano Ronaldo’s legal fees

The lawyer for a woman who accused Cristiano Ronaldo of rape has been ordered to pay $334,637.50 to reimburse Ronaldo for legal fees he incurred defending the lawsuit that was dismissed last year.

Kathryn Mayorga had claimed Ronaldo raped her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, but the player strongly denied the allegations. She had settled with the Portuguese star in 2010 but filed the lawsuit in 2018 after Football Leaks revealed details of communications from Ronaldo’s lawyers.

Last year, US District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed the case after ruling that Mayorga’s attorney Leslie Mark Stovall requested the leaked and stolen Football Leaks recordings and relied on her in the lawsuit.

Ronaldo’s attorney, Peter Christiansen, then demanded that Dorsey hold Stovall personally responsible for the $626,000 legal fees.

But in court documents filed on February 14, 2023, the district judge granted Ronaldo’s request in principle, but awarded him just over half of it.

Dorsey noted in her original 42-page judgment dated June 10, 2022 that Ronaldo had been harmed by Stowell’s conduct.

But she said in this week’s order that Ronaldo “is at least partly to blame for this dragging on” for not trying to disqualify Stowell sooner.

The judge wrote that “even early in the litigation it was clear … that (Mayorga’s) allegations were rooted in the stolen material,” adding that the case’s “dubious foundations” meant some legal work “could have been avoided.” .

As first reported in 2017 by the German publication Der Spiegel, Ronaldo allegedly raped Mayorga while vacationing in Las Vegas in 2009. Ronaldo firmly and consistently denied all allegations made against him, calling the story “fake news”.

Las Vegas police reinvestigated the crime in 2018 at Mayorga’s request, but concluded the following summer that the claims “could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Ronaldo, it was decided, would not face criminal charges.

Mayorga, who waived her right to anonymity, had sued him for substantial damages in civil proceedings in the United States.

However, on June 10, Dorsey immediately dismissed the rape lawsuit against the Portuguese footballer.

the athlete contacted Ronaldo’s lawyers and representatives for comment.

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