Thursday marked a major victory for Cristiano Ronaldo and his legal team, and with that, a huge loss for Kathryn Mayorga and her lawyers. U.S. federal magistrate judge Daniel Albregts yesterday sided with Ronaldo and against Mayorga, who has a pending civil case pending against the Manchester United superstar, in which she claims the football superstar raped her in Las Vegas in 2009.
The criminal case was re-opened, and later dismissed, but Albregts found that Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, based their case on leaked and stolen documents which he said were privileged communications between Ronaldo and his legal team.
Albregts, whose jurisdiction is Nevada, wrote in his recommendation to U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey:
“Dismissing Mayorga’s case for the inappropriate conduct of her attorney is a harsh result, but it is, unfortunately, the only appropriate sanction to ensure the integrity of the judicial process.”
“Stovall has acted in bad faith to his client’s — and his profession’s — detriment.”
The case now moves up the U.S. court system to Dorsey, but no date has been set for when she will administer her ruling. Mayorga is suing for a sum that the exceeds the $375,000 she received in 2010 as part of a hush money agreement.
The details of this non-disclosure agreement came to light in 2018 as Mayorga’s legal team claimed she was not in the proper mental state, at the time, to sign the NDA.
Ronaldo returned to United just ahead of summer transfer window deadline day, and he’s been just as productive and effective as ever so far this season.
During the September international break he became the all-time goal scorer in international competition.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
He co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.