Cristiano Ronaldo, via a statement issued this evening by Gestifute, the company run by his agent Jorge Mendes, strongly refuted the information published by German daily Der Spiegel which claimed that the Real Madrid player allegedly raped a young woman in 2009. The paper, basing its claims on Football Leaks documents, also wrote that the player had supposedly agreed the payment of 258,172 euros(375,00 dollars) in a settlement to silence the accuser.
Gestifute’s statement on Cristiano 2009 rape accusations
“Today, the German newspaper Der Spiegel published a long article regarding an alleged accusation of rape that would have been directed at Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, i.e. about 8 years ago.
The article is nothing but a piece of journalistic fiction.
The alleged victim refuses to come forward and confirm the veracity of the accusation. The newspaper has based their entire narrative on documents which are unsigned and where the parties are not identified, on emails between lawyers whose content does not concern Cristiano Ronaldo and whose authenticity he cannot verify, and on an alleged letter that is said to have been sent to him by the so-called victim, but was never received by Cristiano.
The accusations reported by the De Spiegel are false, and Cristiano Ronaldo will do everything in his power to react against these. An accusation of an act of rape is disgusting and outraging, and he will not allow it to hang over his reputation“.
Cristiano Ronaldo pictured in today’s training session Chema Moya (EFE)
Alleged incident took place just before Cristiano joined Real Madrid
According to Der Spiegel, the alleged rape attack on the accuser, known as “Ms. C.” happened in the United States. To be precise, on the morning of 13 June 2009, at a luxury hotel in Las Vegas (Cristiano was officially presented as a Real Madrid player almost a month later on 6 July, although the transfer had been confirmed by Manchester United and Madrid on 11 June). Months later, on 12 January 2010, the two parties agreed an out-of-court settlement in front a mediator in Nevada State.
Der Sìegel goes on to add that it was Jorge Mendes‘ legal advisor Carlos Osorio de Castro who signed the three-page document as “Mr. D.”. The settlement obliged the accuser to drop any charges she might have made against the player. There was also a gag clause inserted, impeding the women from mentioning the incident while all related electronic material – emails, text messages were to be destroyed.
Der Spiegel report that the women reported the alleged violation at a Las Vegaspolice station on the same say it took place, although without naming the footballer, who was referred to as a “public figure” and “an athlete”. But after the agreement, no formal complaint was made.
Cristiano’s legal team categorically refute “incorrect” rape allegation
The German newspaper say that they contacted the player about the accusations and received a reply from his lawyer in Munich, Johannes Kreile: “Considering the questions made, these accusations must be categorically refuted because they are incorrect”. Kreile also announced that the accused would be taking “legal action against those making false declarations or any defamatory allegations”. Carlos Osorio, who allegedly signed the settlement, has stated that he never comments on matters relating to clients and asked Der Spiegel not to draw any wrong conclusions from his version of events.
