Cristiano Ronaldo has denied the rape allegations made against him by an American woman, saying he has a “clear conscience.”
Kathryn Mayorga says the Portuguese footballer, who now plays for Italian club Juventus, raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009 while she repeatedly screamed no, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Clark County, Nevada.
“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me,” Ronaldo wrote on Twitter. “Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.
“Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.
“My clear conscience will thereby allow me to await with tranquility the results of any and all investigations.”
It’s not the first time Ronaldo has taken to social media to put forward his side of the story.
The 33-year-old appeared to dispute the claims in an Instagram live post on Friday: “What they said today, fake – fake news. They want to promote by my name. It’s normal. They want to be famous – to say my name. Yeah but it’s part of the job. I’m (a) happy man and all, all good.”
Leslie Stovall, Mayorga’s co-counsel, was not immediately available to provide a response to Ronaldo’s tweets.
On Tuesday, Stovall said Mayorga’s complaint and her “psychological” injuries, as well as the physical evidence, the settlement and Ronaldo’s alleged answers to questions about the assault, are not fake news.
Las Vegas police have re-opened the rape complaint made by Mayorga against Ronaldo.
Attorney Larissa Drohobyczer told reporters in Las Vegas on Wednesday that Mayorga shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a psychiatrist hired by the Stovall firm.
Mayorga’s lawsuit accuses Ronaldo and his team of taking advantage of her fragile emotional state to coerce her into signing a settlement and nondisclosure agreement in 2009.
She claims she received $375,000 in exchange for her silence. Her lawsuit seeks to void the settlement and agreement.
“We believe we have the factual basis to ask the court to set aside the agreement so we can litigate … for damages,” Stovall said at the news conference. He said there are concerns about the statute of limitations for the civil case in Nevada.
Mayorga was not at the news conference; Stovall said she temporarily has left the Las Vegas area.
He said the #MeToo movement gave his client “a lot of courage” to come forward.
READ: Rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo ‘not fake news,’ says accuser’s lawyer
READ: Cristiano Ronaldo sued over alleged rape in Las Vegas hotel room
Ronaldo is next due to play for Juventus against Udinese on Saturday. He missed Tuesday’s Champions League victory over Young Boys following his red card against Valencia.
CNN’s Chris Boyette, Emanuella Grinberg, Shawn Nottingham, Artemis Moshtaghian, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Aimee Lewis, AnneClaire Stapleton, Amanda Jackson and Elena Gyldenkerne contributed reporting.
