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What happened in the 2009 Las Vegas hotel incident with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kathryn Mayorga?
Executive summary
Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused by Kathryn Mayorga of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel in June 2009; Mayorga reported the incident to Las Vegas police soon after and later accepted a $375,000 settlement and nondisclosure agreement, which she has since tried to void [1] [2]. Criminal investigators reopened the 2009 Las Vegas inquiry after the allegations resurfaced, but U.S. prosecutors in 2019 declined to charge Ronaldo and a federal judge later dismissed Mayorga’s civil suit in 2022 because her lawyer used hacked or stolen documents [3] [4] [2].
1. The night and the immediate aftermath — what Mayorga says
Mayorga says she met Ronaldo at the Rain nightclub in the Palms Hotel on June 12–13, 2009, and that later the same night she was sexually assaulted in a penthouse or suite at the Palms; she reported an incident to Las Vegas police the next day and had injuries documented at a hospital and submitted to a rape kit, according to reporting and court filings [5] [6]. Mayorga’s account, as reported, includes that she felt “sick and confused” afterwards and did not immediately name an assailant in her initial police contact [6] [1].
2. The 2010 settlement and confidentiality agreement
Within months, Mayorga and Ronaldo’s representatives reached an out‑of‑court settlement in 2010; reporting and court filings say she received $375,000 in exchange for a confidentiality agreement, which Ronaldo’s lawyers later acknowledged in court documents [2] [1]. Mayorga’s civil team has argued the agreement should be voided because she was pressured and emotionally impaired when she signed it; Ronaldo’s lawyers say the agreement and Nevada’s statute of limitations bar later claims [2] [7].
3. Reopening the investigation and prosecutorial decisions
When the story resurfaced in 2018–2019, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it reopened a 2009 sexual‑assault investigation and followed up on information from Mayorga [3]. However, in 2019 Clark County prosecutors said they would not charge Ronaldo, saying the allegations could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt [4] [2]. The reopened criminal inquiry and its findings were covered in multiple outlets as part of the unfolding legal process [3] [5].
4. Civil litigation, leaked documents and the 2022 dismissal
Mayorga sued to void the nondisclosure agreement and to pursue damages; that litigation depended in part on documents published by Der Spiegel and materials tied to the “Football Leaks” disclosures [8] [9]. In June 2022 a U.S. federal judge dismissed Mayorga’s civil lawsuit on procedural and evidentiary grounds, finding her attorney repeatedly relied on “ill‑gotten,” hacked, or stolen privileged documents and had acted in bad faith, which the judge said prejudiced Ronaldo [4] [10].
5. Competing narratives and denials
Ronaldo has consistently denied the allegation, saying any sexual encounter was consensual and calling media reports “fake news” in earlier coverage [5] [10]. Mayorga and her lawyers have said the #MeToo movement helped her come forward and that trauma limited her ability to respond at the time; her team has alleged that Ronaldo and associates used “fixers” to influence the early handling of the complaint [11] [5].
6. Legal consequences for lawyers and remaining questions
Judicial rulings from U.S. courts have penalized Mayorga’s counsel for reliance on hacked documents: a judge ordered the lawyer to pay a large portion of Ronaldo’s legal fees and another ruling dismissed the suit largely because of that misconduct [12] [4]. These procedural rulings resolved aspects of the civil litigation but do not equate to a factual determination on the underlying assault allegation; courts focused on legal prejudice caused by how evidence was obtained and used [4] [12].
7. What reporting says is established and what remains disputed
Established in reporting: Mayorga filed a 2009 police report, a 2010 settlement for $375,000 occurred, Las Vegas police reopened an investigation, prosecutors declined to charge in 2019, and a federal judge later dismissed the 2018 civil suit citing misuse of hacked documents [2] [3] [4]. Disputed or unresolved: the core factual question of whether the sex was consensual or constituted rape — Mayorga says it was assault, Ronaldo says it was consensual — and because criminal charges were not pursued and civil claims were dismissed on procedural grounds, available reporting does not include a court finding on that central factual issue [4] [2].
8. Context and why this case drew sustained attention
The case drew international attention because of Ronaldo’s global profile and because the dispute involved a settlement, leaked legal documents, questions about investigative conduct and the use of hacked materials in litigation — all factors that raised broader issues about privacy, legal ethics and how high‑profile misconduct allegations are litigated in the #MeToo era [8] [9] [12]. Different outlets emphasized different aspects: some focused on Mayorga’s allegations and police files, others on procedural rulings and the provenance of evidence [8] [4].
Limitations: reporting cited here is the existing coverage of events, legal filings and court rulings; available sources do not include a criminal conviction or a civil judgment on the merits resolving whether an assault occurred, and they also do not provide every investigative detail from police files [4] [2].