The lawyers claim that rape allegation documents that apparently contain Ronaldo’s acknowledgment of being guilty have been altered by hackers. Christiansen said what happened in Las Vegas was “completely consensual”
New Delhi: After Kathryn Mayorga went public last week with her claims of Cristiano Ronaldo having sex with her without her consent, Ronaldo has hired a Las Vegas-based attorney, Peter S Christiansen.
The lawyers claim that rape allegation documents that apparently contain Ronaldo’s acknowledgment of being guilty have been altered by hackers. Christiansen said what happened in Las Vegas was “completely consensual”.
"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in," Ronaldo said in a statement.
“By 2015, dozens of entities (including law firms) in different parts of Europe were attacked and saw a lot of information on their electronic equipment being stolen by a hacker. This hacker then tried to sell such information, having now a media outlet irresponsibly publishing some of the stolen documents, significant parts of which were altered and/or completely forged,” said Christiansen.
Football Leaks website, with the German Magazine Der Spiegel, who went on to encourage Mayorga to share her story in a 9,000-word interview published two weeks ago, ultimately shared the documents referred to by Christiansen and claimed that Ronaldo and his lawyers have always been taking the same path when unsuccessful in fighting their investigation work.
“We stand by our reporting. Our story is carefully researched. We have hundreds of documents from different sources that substantiate our reporting. We have no reason to believe that those documents are not authentic. Furthermore, as always and before publishing every single article, we have meticulously fact-checked out information and had it legally reviewed,” said Der Spiegel in a statement.
An investigation took place in Ronaldo’s hotel room in the Palm Casino by the Las Vegas police, reported Mayorga who is also bringing a civil case against the player. Though she had earlier signed a non-disclosure agreement with the player in 2010, she chose to break it after learning some of the contents of the documents, say her lawyers.
Christiansen confirmed the existence of the agreement, but added that no such acknowledgement of the fact came from Ronaldo until now.
“Cristiano Ronaldo does not deny he agreed to conclude an agreement with (Ms Mayorga) but the reasons that led him to do so are at least to be misrepresented. This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt,” said Christiansen.
“Once again, for the avoidance of doubt, Cristiano Ronaldo’s position has always been, and continues to be, that what happened in 2009 in Las Vegas was completely consensual,” he added.
Last Updated Oct 11, 2018, 11:35 AM IST