Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has asked a judge to dismiss the rape case against him a decade after paying $375,000 to hush a Nevada woman Kathryn Mayorga.
Ms Mayorga had claimed the Portuguese star raped her while holidaying in the US in 2009.
But Ronaldo’s lawyers are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed after reports of the sexual encounter became public and to punish the woman’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, for soliciting allegedly stolen documents in July 2018 from an entity called “Football Leaks,” months before filing the case, AP reports.
“No sanction less than dismissal will suffice,” Ronaldo’s attorneys, Peter Christiansen and Kendelee Works, wrote in a federal court filing submitted May 27.
“At a minimum, Stovall must be disqualified from acting as counsel in this matter.”
A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday halted plans for Stovall to question witnesses including Ronaldo under oath — at least until U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in Las Vegas rules whether to dismiss the case, disqualify the woman’s attorneys and impose sanctions against them.
Ronaldo, 36, is one of the most recognizable and highly paid players in sports.
Mayorga’s lawsuit acknowledges she met Ronaldo at a nightclub at the Palms Hotel and Casino and went with him and other people to his suite. She alleges he sexually assaulted her in a bedroom.
But Ronaldo, through his attorneys, maintains the sex was consensual.
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