US judge dismisses rape suit against football star Ronaldo

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 03, 2018, Kathryn Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, speaks during a press conference in Las Vegas, about the rape accusation against Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. – US district judge, Judge Jennifer Dorsey, in Las Vegas on June 10, 2022, dismissed a rape lawsuit against Ronaldo, castigating the legal team behind the complaint. Dorsey threw out the case brought by Kathryn Mayorga of Nevada, who alleged she was assaulted by the Portuguese soccer star in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)

A US district judge in Las Vegas has dismissed a rape lawsuit against football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, castigating the legal team behind the complaint.

Judge Jennifer Dorsey threw out the case brought by Kathryn Mayorga of Nevada, who alleged she was assaulted by the Portuguese soccer star in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009.

In a 42-page ruling released Friday, the judge accused Mayorga’s attorneys of “abuses and flagrant circumvention of the proper litigation process” and said that as a result, “Mayorga loses her opportunity to pursue this case.”

Her attorneys had actually moved to dismiss the case voluntarily last month, US media said, but Dorsey decided that their repeated use of illicitly obtained confidential documents meant the case had to be dismissed “with prejudice” — meaning it cannot be revived.

“Nothing less than a with-prejudice dismissal will purge the taint that has permeated this case from its very inception and preserve the integrity of the litigation process,” Dorsey wrote.

Mayorga filed a complaint in September last year alleging she was sexually assaulted by Ronaldo, who strongly denied the accusations.

Mayorga said that while she had