Cristiano Ronaldo news: Juventus talisman reportedly served with court papers in rape lawsuit

What's the story?

Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly been served with the court papers in relation to the federal lawsuit against him in the United States after Kathryn Mayorga claimed the Portuguese raped her in 2009.

In case you didn't know...

The original lawsuit was filed by Mayorga in October 2018 when she alleged that the former Real Madrid forward had raped her in a Las Vegas hotel when he was on vacation there with his cousin and brother-in-law. She further claimed that a $375,000 non-disclosure agreement was offered to her in return for her silence regarding the incident.

In recent weeks, a number of publications claimed that the case was dropped by the alleged victim but it was later learned that it was instead moved from a state court to a federal one.

Mayorga's lawyers had reportedly sent the summons to Ronaldo's residence in Italy after several weeks of location attempts.

The Juventus talisman has vehemently denied the accusations in a statement released on Twitter.

I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 3, 2018

The heart of the matter

According to TMZ Sports, Mayorga's legal team was finally able to serve Ronaldo with the federal lawsuit, days after they made the decision to move the case from a state court, which the lawyers said delayed the process a little bit.

The report stated,

"Ronaldo's legal team has already responded to the lawsuit with court docs of their own in which they ask the judge for permission to file a new 46-page document which will presumably lay out their argument for the court to throw out the case."

Cristiano Ronaldo Finally Served with Lawsuit In Rape Case https://t.co/dm58RJiZOk

— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) June 14, 2019

What's next?

Ronaldo has been fairly unaffected by the allegations as he continued his footballing exploits for club and country. He helped Juventus to their eighth consecutive Serie A title and recently guided Portugal to the inaugural UEFA Nations League trophy.