Cristiano Ronaldo's Lawyer: Sexual Assault Documents 'Altered' or 'Fabricated'

An attorney for Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo released a statement Wednesday claiming documents related to the sexual assault allegation made against his client featured "significant parts" that were either "altered and/or completely fabricated."

The Independent's Samuel Lovett provided comments from lawyer Peter Christiansen about the documents, which were originally published by German outlet Der Spiegel, related to a lawsuit filed by Kathryn Mayorga, who alleges Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009:

"Cristiano Ronaldo vehemently denies all the accusations in this civil action, in consistency with what he has done in the last 9 years. The documents that allegedly contain statements by Mr. Ronaldo and were reproduced in the media are pure inventions. By 2015, dozens of entities (including law firms) in different parts of Europe were attacked and their electronic data stolen by a cyber criminal.

"This hacker tried to sell such information, and a media outlet irresponsibly ended up publishing some of the stolen documents, significant parts of which were altered and/or completely fabricated. Once again, for the avoidance of doubt, Cristiano Ronaldo's position has always been, and continues to be, that what happened in 2009 in Las Vegas was completely consensual."

Last week, TMZ Sports reported information from Mayorga's lawsuit, which alleged Ronaldo sodomized her despite her repeated attempts to stop him and requests to leave the room.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reopened its investigation based on the latest details, but the Portugal international released a statement denying the claims, per TMZ:

"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.

"My clear conscious will thereby allow me to await with tranquility the results of any and all investigations."

Christiansen said in his statement Wednesday the player did reach an out-of-court settlement with Mayorga in 2010, but it did not include an admission of guilt, according to Lovett.

"Cristiano Ronaldo does not deny that he agreed to enter into an agreement, but the reasons that led him to do so are at least to be distorted," he said. "This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt. What happened was simply that Cristiano Ronaldo merely followed the advice of his advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusations made against him."

TMZ reported Mayorga's lawsuit includes an attempt to void the $375,000 deal, which included a nondisclosure agreement.