Nevada Court of appeals court rejected an appeal filed by Cristiano Ronaldo rape accuser… after the woman sought millions more than $375,000 hush money settlement she received in 2010

Kathryn Mayorga alleges in her lawsuit filed almost a decade later that the soccer star, then 24, sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas bedroom in 2009, she was a 25-year-old teacher at the time

Through his lawyers, Ronaldo has argued that their relationship was consensual 

Mayorga’s 2018 lawsuit claimed conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud, by the time federal judge Jennifer Dorsey threw out the case, Stovall claimed Mayorga should receive far more than $25 million in damages

The panel of justices not only rejected their argument that the judge abused her discretion by dismissing the case with prejudice, which prevented Mayorga from refiling the case, they took the unusual step of levying a $335,000 fine against Leslie Mark Stovall

In dismissing the case in Nevada, Dorsey sanctioned her lawyer Mark Stovall for ‘bad faith,’ saying he had improperly attempted to use documents that were leaked or stolen in a cyberattack to pursue Mayorga’s case.*

A US judge has sided with Cristiano Ronaldo in rejecting an appeal by the lawyer of Kathryn Mayorga in Las Vegas trying to force the soccer star to pay millions more than the $375,000 in hush money he paid her after she accused him of raping her in 2009.

A U.S. appeals court sided Tuesday with Cristiano Ronaldo, rejecting an appeal by the attorney Kathryn Mayorga, the American woman trying to force the Portuguese soccer star to pay millions more than the $375,000 in hush money he paid her after she accused him of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
Leslie Stovall, attorney for Mayorga filed a motion at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the dismissal of her case by a federal judge in Las Vegas in June 2022. The lawyer asked the court to reopen the civil lawsuit she filed in 2018.
Stovall argued that U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey erred when she rejected Mayorga’s attempts to unseal and make public the confidentiality agreement she signed in 2010 in accepting payments from Ronaldo.

Kathryn Mayorga asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s dismissal of the case in Las Vegas in June 2022 and reopen the civil lawsuit for rape which she filed in 2018. It was dismissed because of the confidentiality agreement she signed in 2010 in accepting payments from Ronaldo

The criminal case against Ronaldo was dismissed by the Las Vegas district attorney and both Mayorga’s civil case and now the appeal have all been dismissed by the court.
On appeal, a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appellate court disagreed with the motion.
The panel of justices not only rejected their argument that the judge abused her discretion by dismissing the case with prejudice, which prevented Mayorga from refiling the case, they took the unusual step of levying a $335,000 fine against Leslie Mark Stovall.
‘The district court clearly recognized the gravity of dismissing the case and accordingly provided a thorough analysis, amply supported by factual findings,’ Judge Johnnie Rawlinson wrote in Tuesday’s six-page opinion.

Mayorga, seen, [photo], with Ronaldo at their 2009 meeting, claimed that the soccer player raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room – an allegation which Ronaldo has consistently denied

The case garnered global attention because Ronaldo who now plays for the Saudi Arabian professional team Al Nassr, is one of the richest and most recognizable athletes in the world.
After starting his career at Portuguese giants Benfica, Ronaldo who captains Portugal’s national team, went on to play for global power houses like England’s Manchester United, Real Madrid of Spain and Italy’s Juventus.
In dismissing the case in Nevada, Dorsey sanctioned Stovall for ‘bad faith,’ saying he had improperly attempted to use documents that were leaked or stolen in a cyberattack to pursue Mayorga’s case.
Mayorga gave consent through her lawyers, including Stovall, to make her name public.
Stovall told the 9th Circuit panel during oral arguments in October that Mayorga wasn’t bound by the confidentiality agreement because Ronaldo or his associates violated it before the German news outlet, Der Spiegel, published an article in April 2017 titled ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s Secret’ based on documents obtained from ‘the whistleblower portal Football Leaks.’

In a case of ‘she say, he say’, Mayorga, seen [photo], cavorting with Renaldo that night in Las Vegas, alleges it was rape while the Portuguese international claims their liaison was consensual

Las Vegas police reopened a rape investigation after Mayorga’s lawsuit was filed, but Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson decided in 2019 not to pursue criminal charges. He said too much time had passed and evidence failed to show that Mayorga’s accusation could be proven to a jury.
Mayorga, a former teacher and model from the Las Vegas area, was 25 when she met Ronaldo at a nightclub in 2009 and went with him and other people to his hotel suite.
She alleges in her lawsuit filed almost a decade later that the soccer star, then 24, sexually assaulted her in a bedroom.
Ronaldo, through his lawyers, maintained the sex was consensual and that the confidentiality agreement reached in 2010 was valid. In the lawsuit he filed, Stovall acknowledged that Mayorga received the $375,000.

The Nevada Appeals court In dismissing the case, sanctioned Mayorga’s lawyer Leslie Stovall for ‘bad faith,’ that he had improperly attempted to use documents that were leaked or stolen in a cyberattack to pursue Mayorga’s case. The justices levied a fine of #335,000 against Stovall

Mayorga’s lawsuit claimed conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud. By the time Dorsey threw out the case, Stovall claimed Mayorga should receive far more than $25 million in damages.
The 9th Circuit ruling on Tuesday noted the 2010 settlement ‘lay dormant until 2017, when … `Football Leaks’ released hundreds of documents through a cyber hack of Ronaldo’s former attorneys.’
‘Despite the settlement and confidentiality agreement between Ronaldo and Mayorga, Stovall sought and used documents from ‘Football Leaks’ – including those clearly marked attorney-client privileged – to prosecute a new lawsuit on behalf of Mayorga against Ronaldo,’ the circuit court said.

The journalist behind ‘Football Leaks’ Rui Pinto [photo], is currently facing trial in France for allegedly hacking French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain FC

Judge Dorsey ‘properly held that Ronaldo did not waive or otherwise forfeit his claim of attorney-client privilege as to the ‘Football Leaks’ documents,’ it said.
The appellate judges specifically rejected Stoval’s argument that Ronaldo failed to adequately safeguard the documents.
‘Before the leak, his attorneys employed cybersecurity tools to protect their files,’ the ruling said. ‘As the district court noted, Ronaldo mistakenly produced the course of “navigating this unorthodox predicament,” kicked off by Mayorga’s counsel’s “unprincipled conduct” long before, and instituted vigorous efforts to protect the documents afterwards.’
‘The district court did not abuse its discretion when it found that a case-terminating sanction was appropriate,’ the ruling said.
It should be noted that Rui Pinto, the journalist behind ‘Football Leaks’ Rui Pinto is currently facing trial in France for allegedly hacking Paris Saint-Germain FC.