Here’s why Cristiano Ronaldo is back in court over 2009 sexual assault claim

The next time someone tells you that sexual assault allegations “ruin a man’s career,” you only have to point to Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s been nearly five years since the German outlet Der Spiegel published what it purported were leaked documents between Ronaldo’s attorneys regarding an alleged sexual assault he was accused of perpetrating in 2009, and Ronald remains the highest-paid athlete in the world, making even more money off the field than on it. And 2009 was the second time Ronaldo was accused of sexual assault. To understand why Ronaldo’s attorneys were back in court last week arguing against reopening a civil case that was thrown out by a federal judge in 2022, you have to go all the way back to 2009, when Kathryn Mayorga, a formal model, and teacher in Las Vegas,…