CR7 is in serious yawa
He won't be coming to play in MLS or vacation in the USA anytime soon by the looks of this piece
Quote:
Her Name Is Kathryn
The Woman Who Accuses Ronaldo of Rape
An American woman claims Cristiano Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas. Years ago, the soccer star paid her to remain silent. Now, the woman is going public for the first time and filing a complaint against Ronaldo. She possesses a document that could be extremely dangerous for him. By DER SPIEGEL Staff
She was supposed to be invisible, damned to silence. Forever. Nobody was to ever learn about that night in Las Vegas back in 2009, especially not her version of events.
She even signed a settlement deal and received a payoff ensuring that she would never give voice to the accusations.
She signed, she says, out of fear for herself and her family. And out of impotence, the inability to stand up to him. And out of the hope that she could finally put the incident behind her. But, says Kathryn Mayorga, she was never able to close that chapter.
The American is a slender 34-year-old with long, dark hair and green eyes. Until recently, she worked at an elementary school. But she quit, she says, "because I need all my strength now."
She needs the strength to stand up to the man who she accuses of having raped her nine years ago -- accusations that he denies.
The man isn't just anybody. It is Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the best soccer player in the world, with vast amounts of success, money and adoration from the fans. An anonymous woman versus Ronaldo -- the discrepancy could hardly be greater.
They met on June 12, 2009 in a Las Vegas nightclub. Ronaldo was there on vacation with his brother-in-law and cousin. It was the summer when the star, then 24, would transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid for a then-record sum of 94 million euros.
Kathryn Mayorga, 25 at the time, was a budding model and one of her jobs was to hang out with other young, beautiful women in front of bars to lure in guests.
On that Friday in June, the paths of the model and the multimillionaire crossed in the VIP section of Rain, a nightclub belonging to Palms Casino Resort. Paparazzi photos show Mayorga standing close to Ronaldo and talking. He is wearing a white shirt with a narrow black tie and she is in a light gray dress with gold jewelry. He plays it cool while she beams at him. Within hours, the gossip pages around the world would be busying themselves with trying to figure out who this "mysterious brunette" is at Ronaldo's side. The party continued in the early morning hours in Ronaldo's penthouse in the nearby Hotel Palms Place. And only two people know what happened in the bedroom there: Kathryn Mayorga and Cristiano Ronaldo.
What is clear is that the soccer star paid Mayorga $375,000 a few months later as part of an out-of-court settlement. In exchange, Mayorga signed an agreement to never talk about her accusations that Cristiano Ronaldo had raped her.
A Perfidious Accusation
DER SPIEGEL reported on the non-disclosure agreement for the first time in spring 2017. The documents pertaining to the agreement were made available to the newsmagazine by the whistleblowing platform Football Leaks. In the reporting for that article, DER SPIEGEL contacted Mayorga, who appears in the story under the pseudonym Susan K. "No comment," was her response. When journalists encountered her in front of her home, she ran away.
When the first article appeared, Ronaldo's agency Gestifute released a statement saying, "the article is nothing but a piece of journalistic fiction." The statement continued: "The newspaper has based their entire narrative on documents which are unsigned and where the parties are not identified."
That portrayal is incorrect.
Numerous documents in DER SPIEGEL's possession prove as much, including some which have been signed by Ronaldo himself. The existence of those documents could help explain why he has not, in the last year-and-a-half, followed up on his threats to take DER SPIEGEL to court. In its public statement, Gestifute also discredited the alleged victim, saying she "refuses to come forward and confirm the veracity of the accusation."
It is a perfidious accusation. After all, the key element of the out-of-court settlement was that Mayorga was not allowed to comment on the incident. Should she do so, according to the deal, she would have to pay the money back to Ronaldo and possibly damages as well.
Now, though, she has decided to talk anyway, telling her story in detail for the first time. Why? What made her change her mind?
Essentially, there are three reasons. First, she has a new lawyer, one who is both experienced and unflinching. He believes the non-disclosure agreement is not legally binding and he has filed a civil complaint against Ronaldo in Kathryn Mayorga's name. That complaint is supported by a 27-page document that could have far-reaching consequences for the football star. The document contains a version of how Ronaldo experienced that night, including the following quote: "She said no and stop several times."
Second, the world has changed for women who claim to have been the victim of sexual assault. One year ago, accusations against the American movie producer Harvey Weinstein were made public. According to those claims, he spent decades harassing, molesting or even raping women. Weinstein denies the accusations.
Money, Power and Fame
Once the scandal went public, the American actress Alyssa Milano encouraged women who have experienced sexual harassment to go public under the hashtag #MeToo.
Tens of thousands of women did so, changing the societal climate in the process. It has since become much more difficult for politicians, lawyers and the general public to ignore and play down sexual violence against women, particularly in cases where the suspected perpetrator possesses money, power and fame.
The #MeToo movement has also given many victims more courage and self-confidence. Mayorga is one of them. She says she has spent many hours in front of her computer reading the stories of other women.
The third reason is that she sees it as the only chance to learn whether there are other women out there who say they were sexually abused by Ronaldo. "It's something I've always wondered about," she says.
It's a few weeks ago in Las Vegas and Kathryn Mayorga is sitting at a long, dark conference table in the offices of her lawyer together with her mother Cheryl Mayorga and her therapist.
Kathryn is wearing black overalls and long, turquoise earrings. She has made herself up carefully, but the makeup can't completely disguise the tiredness in her eyes. For the last week, she says, she has been having trouble sleeping.
She seems exhausted, but she is also extremely nervous. Her eyes bounce around the room as she repeatedly brushes back her hair.
Mayorga takes a deep breath. First, she wants to talk about her fears as she takes this next step and the words begin pouring out of her. "It's a pretty famous guy. So I'm terrified. I'm scared." She is worried that someone might do something to her, that the media and Ronaldo's fans won't leave her alone. "The reason why I signed the contract in the first place (was) because I didn't want my name out there."
She starts to cry, her breaths coming in shallow bursts. She rolls back in her heavy leather chair and buries her face in her hands. Her therapist is concerned, and they withdraw to a neighboring room for half an hour.
Her mother Cheryl, 66, remains behind, a diminutive woman with dark hair pulled up in a bun. She chooses her words carefully. "It's never left her. Every day, she lives it," she says. "There were times when she would call me and his -- he would be on a billboard or whatever, and she would just completely disintegrate. Having to walk into a store to get a pint of milk, and you've got his picture everywhere. (...) He's the soccer god that everybody thinks is just perfect and flawless. (...) And she can't even get out of bed some days." Cheryl Mayorga shakes her head. "It's just wrong. We're behind her 100 percent."
The rest is here
http://www.spiegel.de/international/cri ... 30634.html