Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a lawsuit over his alleged rape case, according to TMZ Sports.
Per reports, Ronaldo's accuser, Kathryn Mayorga, and her legal team have successfully served Ronaldo with a federal subpoena allowing the lawsuit to officially begin. This comes after it was disclosed that Mayorga would be withdrawing the claim from Nevada's state court, claiming they were making it difficult for her legal team to properly serve Ronaldo. He's responded to the lawsuit by submitting a 46-page document that details why Mayorga's case should be dismissed.
Mayorga alleges that Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room after a long night of partying in 2009. She filed a police report following the incident but didn't name the athlete as the assailant. Still, the authorities detained Ronaldo and issued a warrant for his DNA.
She then claims she accepted $375,000 in hush money from Ronaldo. Now, she wants to void that agreement en lieu for the new lawsuit. Once the case resurfaced in 2018, Ronaldo went on record to deny the accusations.
"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," Ronaldo said. "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."
Mayorga and her attorneys are seeking monetary damages of at least $200,000 in their new lawsuit.
