January 11 – Las Vegas police investigating a rape allegation against Cristiano Ronaldo have reportedly sent a warrant to authorities in Italy, where the Portuguese star plays for Juventus, requesting a DNA sample.
Police were taking “the same steps in this case as in any other sexual assault to facilitate the collection of DNA evidence,”, a department spokeswoman was quoted as saying. “We can confirm that an official request has been submitted to Italian authorities.”
Ronaldo has vehemently denied assaulting Kathryn Mayorga at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009 and a statement from his lawyer Peter Christiansen charged in October that “media outlet irresponsibly” based its reports on “stolen and easily manipulated digital documents” of which “significant parts were altered and/or completely fabricated”.
The German magazine which broke the story, Der Spiegel, claims that in 2010, Mayorga reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo involving a $375,000 payment for agreeing never to go public with the allegations. Her lawyers are now seeking to declare the non-disclosure agreement void.
The publication has always stood by its report saying it has “no reason” to doubt the authenticity of key documents used despite Ronaldo’s lawyers claiming the documents were “completely fabricated”.
The Wall Street Journal reports the warrant was issued because investigators want to see whether Ronaldo’s DNA matches DNA found on Mayorga’s dress.
But Christiansen downplayed the latest development.
“Mr Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature, so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation,” he said.
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