Am letzten Freitag platzte die Bombe: Im deutschen Magazin «Der Spiegel» erhebt die 34-jährige US-Amerikanerin Kathryn Mayorga schwere Vorwürfe gegen Cristiano Ronaldo. 2009 sei sie von Ronaldo in Las Vegas vergewaltigt worden. Damit die Geschichte nicht publik wird, habe der fünffache Weltfussballer für 375’000 Dollar ihr Schweigen gekauft. Am Donnerstag reichte sie beim zuständigen Gericht in Nevada Klage ein.
Schon vor anderthalb Jahren veröffentlichte der «Spiegel» die Geschichte. Damals wollte das mutmassliche Opfer allerdings nicht mit der deutschen Zeitschrift über den Vorfall sprechen, weshalb die ganz grossen Schlagzeilen ausblieben. Ronaldos Anwälte taten die Vorwürfe damals als «piece of journalist fiction» («freie journalistische Erfindung») ab. Fast zehn Jahre später wird der Fall nun wieder aufgerollt, denn Mayorga will nicht mehr Schweigen.
Im Spiegel und in der öffentlich zugänglichen Anklageschrift erzählt sie, wie sie die Nacht damals erlebt hat. Wie sie den Fussballprofi im Rahmen eines Promotionsjobs am 13. Juni 2009 im Rain Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas an einer Bar kennengelernt hat. Wie er sie nach ihrer Nummer gefragt hat. Wie sie in sein Hotelzimmer gegangen ist. Wie es zur Vergewaltigung gekommen ist. Wie sie am Tag danach zur Polizei gegangen ist, ohne Ronaldos Namen zu nennen. Wie es zur aussergerichtlichen Schweigegeldzahlung von 375'000 Dollar gekommen ist.
Ronaldo hat nie abgestritten, in jener Nacht Sex mit Mayorga gehabt zu haben, für ihn hatte es sich damals um «einvernehmlichen Sex» gehandelt. Am Freitagabend äusserte sich der 33-jährige Portugiese in einem Live-Video auf Instagram wie folgt zu den Vorwürfen:
Am Sonntag kündigt Ronaldos deutscher Anwalt Christan Schertz in einem Statement an, den «Spiegel» auf Schadenersatz verklagen zu wollen. Aus seiner Sicht seien Mayorgas Anschuldigungen «eklatant rechtswidrig». Es handle sich um eine «unzulässige Verdachtsberichterstattung aus dem Bereich der Intimsphäre». Und Schertz weiter: «Es dürfte sich vorliegend um eine der schwersten Verletzungen von Persönlichkeitsrechten aus den letzten Jahren handeln.»
Das will der «Spiegel»-Autor Christoph Winterbach so nicht stehenlassen. In 25 Tweets erläutert er, warum das Nachrichtenmagazin den Vergewaltigungsvorwurf öffentlich gemacht hat.
Winterbach ...
This is a thread about the rape allegations vs. @Cristiano: About our research @derSpiegel, about Ronaldo's reaction and a little insight into why the alleged victim Kathryn Mayorga speaks out about the case nine years later. This is the story btw: https://t.co/fwv26PhCSx 1/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
We had hundreds of documents from different sources: e-mails, medical and police reports. we put the story together: In 2009, Mayorga accused Ronaldo of rape. She said she was too afraid to say his name to the police & to go to court b/c she feared harassment by #CR7's fans. 2/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
Her unexperienced lawyer (specialised on traffic violations) hacked out a deal with high-profile lawyers who usually have Hollywood clients. They settled on $375.000, Mayorga had to be silent and never mention the incident ever again. #CR7 stated that the sex was consensual. 3/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
We worked for weeks on that story last year, travelled to Las Vegas, tried to talk to Mayorga (she wouldn't talk), confronted Ronaldo (he denied), published three articles. After the first text, @Cristiano's agency #Gestifute published a troubling statement. 4/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
The statement was not only untruthful (it suggested that we didn't have signed documents and couldn't identify Ronaldo. That was not true, and we proved it), it also suggested that @Cristiano's lawyers didn't abide by the settlement terms. 5/24 pic.twitter.com/5GBuEdf3jQ
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
In their statement they said that Ronaldo had never received the letter from Mayorga, which we quoted from. But it was part of the settlement deal: @Cristiano's lawyers had to read her letter to him. If he really didn't know about the letter, they breached the settlement. 6/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
They also called our article “a piece of journalistic fiction”, although to this day they never called out any of the documents we show and quote from as fake. We have no reason to assume that they're not authentic. We meticulously check that before publishing. Always. 7/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
Fast forward a year and a half: We had the #metoo movement and Mayorga has a new lawyer who says the settlement is void. He says that she was diagnosed with PTSD and describes the mediation as traumatic. Even CR7's lawyers stated that she was extremely volatile and emotional 8/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
That apparently made Mayorga decide to now talk to us and tell her story - although she signed the non-disclosure settlement. We reached out to Ronaldo, he wouldn't talk. We confronted him with the allegations again, especially with a very sensitive document that quotes him. 9/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
It's a questionnaire made by his lawyers. Ronaldo seems to partly confirm Mayorga's version & stated that "she didn't want to, but she made herself available." In a later version of that questionnaire, these answers are gone. #CR7 is quoted saying it was consensual. 10/24 pic.twitter.com/1gsAcb5vZw
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
This document might become very important. It's very dangerous for Ronaldo because it casts reasonable doubts on his denial. Again, we did ask him about it. Nobody said that it was fake. It would have been easy for him and his lawyers to respond that. They didn't. 11/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
Mayorga's lawyer has now filed a civil complaint that challenges the settlement and Ronaldo's lawyers' strategy towards Mayorga. You can read the full text here: https://t.co/FFrJHYiUyW @Cristiano's lawyer has issued a statement. He is well known to the German press. 12/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
What he likes to do before publishing is to send e-mails to the editors, threatening to sue them if they follow through with it. He did the same to us this time. But let me explain how we work: We have fact-checkers who check every single word of every single article. 13/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
You can't write anything unsubstantiated, because they will scratch it from the article if you can't prove it. They only approve the article if they were able to verify your sources. We value facts. That's an integral part of @DerSpiegel. 14/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
We have a legal department that accompanies us on every step of our research. They make sure that we're not thoughtless when covering people and their stories. Also, our editors in chief are experienced with articles that accuse people with power and money. 15/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
So publishing a story like that is not done within a week, just followed through by one person. There were at least 20 people involved with this article, for weeks. We know what we're doing. We do this sort of thing for a living. 16/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
Ronaldo's lawyer now still says that our publication was "illegal" because "it violates the personal rights" of @Cristiano. Pay attention! He doesn't call it "a piece of journalistic fiction", he doesn't call it fake. He just says it's too personal to become public. 17/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
We disagree. Because Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the biggest celebrities in the world facing very serious allegations, and because there's a public complaint against him. We believe that we have every right to publish this story. 18/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
If we didn't have this right, when would it ever be possible to publish about rape allegations? This is one of the most obvious cases of admissible reporting of suspicions! We have hundreds of uncontested documents from several sources to back the story up. 19/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
Finally, Ronaldo himself apparently denied our story, saying it was "fake news" and thinks that Mayorga wants to be as famous as him. Since she said that she was even too scared to name him in front of the Police, I'd highly doubt that she wanted to become famous. 20/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
I think it was a really weak reaction, because so far there are no grounds for @Cristiano's side to call anything fake. What's also weak is the reactions of some of his fans here on Twitter. I'm not going to comment much about them, but they truly, honestly shock me. 21/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
I can now understand why Mayorga was afraid to go public with her claims back in 2009. I can imagine that she didn't take the decision lightly to put her name and face to this story now. 22/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
I would advise that people interested in our story go read it first @spiegelonline (https://t.co/fwv26PhCSx) before making up their minds about it. I would also recommend to not insult us or Kathryn Mayorga because you don't want to read anything negative about #CR7. 23/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
So, how does it go on? Let's see. Will there be further criminal investigations in Nevada vs. Ronaldo? Will the district court that accepted Mayorga's complaint rule in favor of her? We'll continue to cover this story. Stay tuned. Constructive feedback always appreciated. 24/24
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
25/24: This is an excerpt from the police report from June 13, 2009 when Kathryn Mayorga called police to report about the alleged rape committed by Cristiano Ronaldo but refused to say his name. "Type 426" is Police code for sexual assault. pic.twitter.com/WsLgqmcSPi
— Christoph Winterbach (@derWinterbach) 30. September 2018
Mayorgas Anwalt Leslie Stovall hat eine Zivilklage im US-Bundesstaat Nevada eingereicht. Eine «kriminelle Verschwörung zur Behinderung der strafrechtlichen Verfolgung von Cristiano Ronaldo» wirft Stovall nun der Gegenseite vor. «Die Klägerin war mental nicht fähig und in der Lage, an Verhandlungen zu einer aussergerichtlichen Einigung teilzunehmen», schreibt Stovall.
Er steht Ronaldos Top-Anwälten gegenüber: Der Jurist Leslie M. Stovall über seine Mandantin, die Vergewaltigungsvorwürfe und seine Klage gegen den Fußballstar. https://t.co/0mBgTa47Ni
— DER SPIEGEL (@DerSPIEGEL) 29. September 2018
Für die traumatischen Folgen, unter denen Mayorga leide, fordert der Anwalt in mehreren Schritten Schadensersatz von mindestens 50'000 US-Dollar. Die Folgen der Klage sind unklar. Fest steht: Wer in Nevada wegen einer Vergewaltigung verurteilt wird, dem droht eine lebenslange Haftstrafe.