Authorities want a spit sample from soccer star, model, and super yachter Cristiano Ronaldo after allegations surfaced that he sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel room a decade ago.Las Vegas police, who are investigating the allegations brought by Ronaldo’s accuser, Kathryn Mayorga, recently sent a warrant to Italian authorities requesting a sample of Ronaldo’s DNA. If that DNA sample is successfully obtained, police will test it against evidence found on Mayorga’s dress after her alleged assault, according to the Wall Street Journal.Mayorga, a former model and schoolteacher, reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement in 2010 that granted her $375,000 for staying silent about the allegation that Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel suite in 2009, despite her repeatedly saying “no” and physically resisting him. She immediately reported the incident to police and underwent a rape kit examination. Last September, inspired by the #MeToo movement, Mayorga came forward and filed a civil lawsuit against Ronaldo, and Las Vegas police reopened their years-old investigation into her allegations."I turned away. He tried to take my underwear off. I turned away from him and curled up into a ball. And I was holding my vagina. And that's when he jumped on me,” Mayorga told the German publication Der Spiegel about the alleged incident.Ronaldo has repeatedly denied that their encounter was non-consensual. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told BBC that "Mr. Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature, so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation.”
Ronaldo, in an Instagram Live post last October, decried the allegations as “fake news” and said his accuser wanted to “be famous,” according to ESPN.Mayorga’s attorney did not respond to a VICE News request for comment. If Renaldo were to be successfully charged with a crime by Las Vegas authorities, he could be extradited to the U.S. to face trial.This week, Jasmine Lennard, an English model and television personality, also came forward on Twitter to accuse Ronaldo of inappropriate behavior. She said that he threatened to “have my body cut up and put in a bag” if she dated anyone. She’s since deleted her page, and Ronaldo denied her allegations and said through his lawyer that he never dated her.Cover image: Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus looks on during the Serie A match between Juventus and UC Sampdoria on December 29, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)
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