How Cristiano Ronaldo plays cat and mouse with Justice

Cristiano Ronaldo is omnipresent. He plays with his club Juventus Turin in Empoli, in Milan, in Amsterdam, he is on vacation in Dubai, travels to business appointments in Madrid, to Lisbon.

Everyone can watch the exciting life of the football professional. His Instagram account is full of private photos and videos.

You can see him playing soccer with children. You can see him driving around in the Rolls-Royce. There is music going on. He sings with a song. His girlfriend Georgina Rodríguez languishes from the passenger seat. In the back sits Ronaldo's son, he should also be a talented footballer. They seem to be a happy family. Everyone should see that.

But if Ronaldo, 34, does not want it, nobody comes up to him: the villa he lives in Turin is situated on a hill near the river Po, like a fortress. Ronaldo can see the Alps from his roof terrace. The road that leads to his property is of course closed by a gate.

The lawyer Leslie Mark Stovall from Las Vegas has been trying for almost seven months to penetrate into the perfect world of the landlord. Stovall has important documents for Ronaldo.

The lawyer represents American Kathryn Mayorga, 35, who claims to have been raped by the footballer in June 2009 in a hotel room in Las Vegas. Ronaldo denies the allegations. In 2010, the two came to an out-of-court settlement, but leaves Mayorga meanwhile by her lawyer to challenge, because she wants the case is now before a proper court .

Stovall has filed a civil suit against so-called settlement, which was approved by a US court in Nevada last September. Since then he has endeavored to deliver the application to Ronaldo as prescribed. In vain. Therefore, the process is delayed.
It is an absurd theater.

Stovall wanted to send Ronaldo the lawsuit to his lawyers in Las Vegas, the normal course of action, but the lawyers said they were not responsible or authorized to accept the document.

One of the lawyers wrote that Ronaldo expected the lawsuit to be served under international law. This means: according to the guidelines of the so-called Hague Service Convention, on a special court in Italy. Stovall commissioned the US service provider Legal Process Service (LPS). This was trying to find an Italian company that should find out Ronaldo's exact address in Turin, which is necessary for court delivery. But at the same time should also try to hand Ronaldo the lawsuit in person.

A first company contacted by LPS refused the job, saying that Ronaldo was being shielded by private security guards. The second required 1,500 euros for the job, but had trouble finding Ronaldo's address. "Juventus players are like kings," wrote LPS to Stovall. Although the neighborhood in which Ronaldo lives is known, there are "many difficulties" in trying to get the exact address of the city administration. And the land register entries in this area were blackened or nonexistent. The staff of the delivery company also tried to reach Ronaldo at his club, but Juventus Turin only offered to forward the documents.

That's how the months went by. And thus the time to deliver Ronaldo the claim within 120 days.

At the end of January, Stovall filed a Mayorgas civil suit at a federal court in Nevada. One month later, the lawyer filed a motion to send the application to Ronaldo, for example, in the form of a public announcement in newspapers or by post or e-mail. The court refused in early April, but at the same time ordered that the time limit for service be extended by 180 days.

Shortly before, Stovall’s service provider had Ronaldo's address out. The transmission by an Italian court under the Hague Agreement is now required. But this process can last for several months.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo lives on in the glamorous Turin football bubble, as if there were no problems waiting for him out there. He missed the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday with Juve, but his club is leading the table in the Italian championship confidently. He likes to go out to eat with Georgina, and it is said that he orders a bottle of wine for several thousand euros.

Why did not his lawyers simply accept the application to shorten the procedure? Ronaldo assures his innocence. Should he not have an interest in getting rid of the allegations quickly? Do his lawyers want to gain time?

There is no doubt that Mayorga's lawsuit will eventually reach Ronaldo. There is also a deadline in civil procedure law in the USA, within which a claim must be served. Attempted defendants often seek to have the claim dismissed because it was not submitted on time.

However, this cat-and-mouse game can not be drifted to infinity. If the plaintiff can prove that, despite some efforts, she has not been able to pass on legal action, the court will broaden the scope for doing so. In the end, even a delivery by e-mail could be possible.

Stovall says, "If I fail to file the lawsuit for the next six months, I'll explain the reason to the court and renew my request to allow Ronaldo to provide the documents elsewhere."
It's like having a rotten tooth. You can not wait forever before the appointment at the dentist.

Last fall, the Mayorga case was still being discussed by the media, Ronaldo himself, who had played for Real Madrid until the summer, said he had to explain himself to his team-mates and his family. Meanwhile, it has become quiet. The fans of his new club in Turin are just happy that they have Ronaldo, this global superstar who helps Juventus with his footballing class.

Meanwhile, the police are investigating the five-time Ballon dOr winner by the US authorities. A few months ago, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officials contacted a young man, Ronaldo's compatriot, who could play a pivotal role in the trial.

It's Rui Pinto, 30, a whistleblower behind the leaking platform Football Leaks. He has given the SPIEGEL in recent years, more than 70 million documents from the heart of the football industry, including numerous papers around the rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo.

After Kathryn Mayorga first spoke publicly at SPIEGEL last September about her allegations against the football professional, representatives of the LVMPD contacted Pinto by e-mail. They were interested in both his data and the source of the papers, the so-called metadata. Pinto, who was then anonymous under the code name John, cooperated with the police. He sent them many documents.

Pinto was arrested in Budapest in mid-January and has since been sent to his native Portugal. He is in custody in Lisbon. The Portuguese judiciary accuses him of trying extortion and cybercrime in 2015. Pinto denies the allegations.

Because of various suspected cases investigators from several countries are now trying to view the Football Leaks documents. Some have interviewed Pinto in recent weeks. Even the US authorities want to talk to him as soon as possible, they even want to visit him in the prison in Lisbon.

It is quite possible that the whistleblower, who started the Mayorga case with his documents, will eventually become an important witness. Pinto is a football fan, Ronaldo his favourite player. But that, he says, will not stop him from helping the authorities with their investigation, if so desired.

Kathryn Mayorga, the woman who attacks Cristiano Ronaldo, is no longer publicly speaking about the case that is wearing her strength.

The lawyer, Stovall, answers the question of how she is doing: "She asked me not to comment on her health."