Kathryn Mayorga’s lawsuit against Cristiano Ronaldo, filed in 2018 to void a 2010 non-disclosure agreement and recover damages for a rape she said occurred in a Las Vegas hotel suite in 2009, was dismissed with prejudice in June 2022 because her attorney had built the case on stolen, attorney-client privileged documents. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal in November 2023. Ronaldo, who has always denied the allegation and was never criminally charged, never had to answer the claims on their merits.
What Mayorga Alleged
Mayorga, then 25 and working as a model whose job involved bringing guests to Las Vegas bars and clubs, met Ronaldo on the night of June 12, 2009 in the VIP section of the nightclub Rain at the Palms Casino Resort.1Der Spiegel. The Woman Who Accuses Ronaldo of Rape She later accepted an invitation to his penthouse suite at the adjacent Palms Place hotel. In court filings and in reporting by Der Spiegel, she alleged that Ronaldo raped her anally in a bedroom of the suite and that she repeatedly told him “no” and asked him to stop.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police records confirm a call reporting a sexual offense at the location on June 13, 2009, and that Mayorga was taken to a hospital for a forensic rape-kit examination.2Der Spiegel. Cristiano Ronaldo Rape Allegation Ronaldo has never denied meeting her that night but has consistently said the encounter was consensual. His attorney Peter Christiansen stated in 2018 that Ronaldo’s position “has always been, and continues to be, that what happened in 2009 in Las Vegas was completely consensual.”3The Athletic. Explained: Allegations Against Cristiano Ronaldo
The 2010 Settlement That the Lawsuit Sought to Void
On January 12, 2010, the parties signed an out-of-court settlement under which Ronaldo paid Mayorga $375,000.2Der Spiegel. Cristiano Ronaldo Rape Allegation In exchange, Mayorga agreed to a strict non-disclosure agreement: she would not speak publicly about the incident, would stop cooperating with police, and would destroy evidence. If questioned by third parties, she was to give “no response” and “walk away.” Ronaldo did not sign the agreement personally; his attorneys executed it.
Ronaldo’s lawyers later called the settlement “by no means a confession of guilt,” saying he “merely followed the advice of his advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusations made against him.”3The Athletic. Explained: Allegations Against Cristiano Ronaldo Voiding this agreement was the central legal obstacle Mayorga’s later lawsuit had to overcome.
How the Case Came Back Nearly a Decade Later
The settlement might have remained buried without a hack. In 2017, the whistleblowing platform Football Leaks, created by Portuguese national Rui Pinto, provided Der Spiegel with confidential documents relating to the Ronaldo–Mayorga settlement. Pinto later admitted at trial to using illegal means to obtain 18.6 million documents from sports bodies and law firms between 2015 and 2018.4Reuters. Football Leaks’ Rui Pinto Gets Suspended Sentence, to Remain Free
Der Spiegel reported on the existence of the NDA in spring 2017, and in September 2018 published a follow-up in which Mayorga revealed her identity publicly for the first time.1Der Spiegel. The Woman Who Accuses Ronaldo of Rape Her attorney said the #MeToo movement, which had gathered force after the Harvey Weinstein revelations in 2017, gave her the resolve to come forward.5Time. Cristiano Ronaldo, Rape Allegations, and Soccer’s MeToo Moment Ronaldo posted on Twitter in October 2018: “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.”3The Athletic. Explained: Allegations Against Cristiano Ronaldo
The Lawsuit: What Mayorga Sought and Where She Filed
In September 2018, Mayorga filed a civil suit in Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court, later refiled in federal court as Case No. 2:19-cv-00168-JAD-DJA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.6Fox News. Mayorga v. Ronaldo Court Filing Her attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, sought to void the 2010 NDA and recover further damages. The complaint alleged that Ronaldo had hired a “team of fixers” to investigate her, suppress disclosure, and avoid criminal consequences. It also argued that Mayorga had lacked the mental capacity to enter the settlement, citing learning disabilities and severe emotional distress at the time she signed it.7ESPN. US Judge to Hear Arguments Over Hush-Money Agreement
In September 2020, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey ruled that most of Mayorga’s claims were subject to arbitration under the original settlement, but that her challenge to her mental capacity to assent to the agreement was not arbitrable and would require a bench trial.8vLex. Mayorga v. Ronaldo, 491 F.Supp.3d 840 That trial never happened. What ended the case was not the strength or weakness of Mayorga’s allegations but the conduct of her lawyer.
Why the Case Was Dismissed
The lawsuit relied heavily on the Football Leaks documents. Ronaldo’s attorneys argued that those materials were attorney-client privileged communications stolen in a cyber hack of their law firms, and that Stovall had deliberately sought and used them. Both Carlos Osório de Castro, Ronaldo’s Portuguese attorney, and Richard Wright, his U.S. attorney, filed declarations confirming the hack and stating that neither they nor Ronaldo had ever authorized release of the documents.9Courthouse News Service. Mayorga v. Ronaldo Report and Recommendation
In October 2021, Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts recommended dismissal as a sanction, finding that Stovall had acted in bad faith by intentionally seeking, receiving, and using privileged materials. Because Mayorga had already been exposed to the contents, Albregts concluded, no court could reliably separate her independent knowledge from what she had absorbed through the stolen documents. “Dismissing Mayorga’s case for the inappropriate conduct of her attorney is a harsh result,” he wrote, “but it is, unfortunately, the only appropriate sanction to ensure the integrity of the judicial process.”10The Guardian. Cristiano Ronaldo Rape Allegations Dismissal in Las Vegas
On June 10, 2022, Judge Dorsey adopted the recommendation and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it could not be refiled. She called the situation “tainted beyond redemption” and said “nothing less than a with-prejudice dismissal will purge the taint that has permeated this case from its very inception.”3The Athletic. Explained: Allegations Against Cristiano Ronaldo Disqualifying Stovall alone, she reasoned, would not fix the problem.
The Ninth Circuit Appeal
Stovall appealed. On November 21, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.11Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mayorga v. Ronaldo, No. 22-16009 The court held that Ronaldo had not waived his attorney-client privilege, pointing to reasonable cybersecurity measures taken before the hack and immediate objections to use of the documents afterward. It also found that the district court had properly applied the five-factor test for case-terminating sanctions and that the bad-faith findings against Stovall were amply supported. That ruling closed the civil case against Ronaldo.
Sanctions and Discipline Against Mayorga’s Attorney
The consequences for Stovall did not end with dismissal. In February 2023, Judge Dorsey ordered him to personally pay $334,647 in legal fees to Ronaldo’s defense team as a sanction, a sum she noted was only about $40,000 less than what Mayorga had received in her original settlement.12Las Vegas Review-Journal. Attorney for Cristiano Ronaldo’s Accuser Ordered to Pay $334K in Fees Stovall appealed that order.
The State Bar of Nevada also pursued disciplinary proceedings arising directly from the Ronaldo case.13Las Vegas Review-Journal. Attorney Suspended, Faces Disbarment After Misconduct Finding in Ronaldo Case In June 2024, a disciplinary panel recommended disbarment. Daniel Hooge, the State Bar’s disciplinary counsel, called Stovall’s actions “a threat to the public” and said the discipline “stems from his actions in the Ronaldo case.” On November 21, 2025, the Nevada Supreme Court temporarily suspended Stovall from practice, allowing him to represent existing clients through January 1, 2026, but barring new cases. A final decision on disbarment remains under review.14FindLaw. In Re Stovall, Docket No. 90515
The Criminal Side
The civil suit is separate from the criminal investigation, and readers sometimes conflate the two. In August 2018, shortly before going public, Mayorga asked Las Vegas police to reopen the 2009 case, this time naming Ronaldo.15KTNV. Las Vegas Police Submitted for Arrest Warrant in Cristiano Ronaldo Alleged Rape Case Detectives sought a DNA sample from Ronaldo in Italy in early 2019 and submitted a request for an arrest warrant to the Clark County District Attorney. District Attorney Steve Wolfson declined to pursue charges, concluding that too much time had passed and that the available evidence could not prove the accusations beyond a reasonable doubt.16NBC News. Judge Dismisses Rape Lawsuit Against Cristiano Ronaldo in Las Vegas No arrest warrant was ever issued, and Ronaldo has never been charged.
Because the civil case ended on a sanctions ruling rather than a factual finding, the underlying allegation was never tested at trial in any court. Mayorga’s claims remain unresolved on their merits.