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Cristiano Ronaldo Rape Lawsuit to Be Pursued in Federal Court by Kathryn Mayorga
A state lawsuit filed by Kathryn Mayorga, who said Cristiano Ronaldo raped her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, has been dropped in state civil court and will be pursued in federal court.
Edvard Pettersson of Bloomberg reported she filed a voluntary dismissal of the state case in May at Nevada state court.
Mayorga's attorney, Larissa Drohobyczer, told ESPN's Sam Borden the case remains active in federal court.
"Essentially, the attorneys were having such difficulty serving Ronaldo (because he lives abroad), that they switched venues where serving rules are different," Borden wrote following up. "Also, the criminal investigation against Ronaldo is still open. In short, this was just some legal strategy."
Rafael Buschmann of Der Spiegel—the outlet which first published the allegations in 2017 based on documents acquired through Football Leaks, and named Mayorga as the accuser in September last year—first reported the change of venue:
Rafael Buschmann @Rafanelli@edpettersson @business The case is not closed, it is just at a different court now. After it was not possible for Mayorga‘s lawyers to serve #Ronaldo with the complaint, they filed it at a federal court: https://t.co/tEvIoeJDq6 @derWinterbach @andreasmeyhoff @antjewindmann @SPIEGELONLINE
Ronaldo has denied the allegations.
The Mirror's Christopher Bucktin reported in May that Mayorga's legal representatives were attempting to serve Ronaldo the summons and complaint, having managed to track down his address in Italy, which they had been searching for since October.
In April, a U.S. judge had given her lawyers a 180-day extension to find Ronaldo's address.
According to Pettersson, the New York Times reported in March that Juventus had chosen not to participate in the International Champions Cup in the United States this year because of fear Ronaldo could be detained. Las Vegas police reopened an investigation into Ronaldo after Mayorga filed her lawsuit. In January, police requested a sample of Ronaldo's DNA, per the New York Times (h/t Pettersson).
The criminal investigation into the matter is still ongoing, though no details have been provided on Ronaldo's cooperation with the DNA request.
Mayorga said in her lawsuit that she and Ronaldo initially agreed to a settlement in 2010. However, she said that trauma made her incompetent to agree to the settlement, which led to her filing the new lawsuit.