LAS VEGAS: The Las Vegas police department has stated that it has reopened an investigation into a rape report by a woman who has laid the allegation against Juventus and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

The department did not name the woman or any suspect but was responding to media inquiries concerning statements to German news magazine Der Spiegel by Kathryn Mayorga. She has launched legal action in Nevada against Ronaldo, claming that she was paid a $375,000 settlement in return for agreeing a nondisclosure agreement.

Ronaldo’s lawyer Christian Schertz has described publication of documents as “blatantly illegal” and Der Spiegel’s reporting as “violating the personal rights of our client in an exceptionally serious way. This is an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy.

“It would therefore already be unlawful to reproduce this reporting. We have been instructed to immediately assert all existing claims under press law against Der Spiegel, in particular compensation for moral damages in an amount corresponding to the gravity of the infringement, which is probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years.”

Ronaldo has described the Der Spiegel claim of an incident in June 2009  – when he was about to leave Manchester United for Real Madrid – as “fake news”.

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