CELEBRITY
Las Vegas police move to arrest Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo who was accused by Kathryn Mayorga of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room in Las Vegas in June 2009 barely escaped being arrested by Las Vegas Police in the US.
Although Ronaldo has always denied the claims, Police believed they had enough evidence to arrest and charge him over an alleged sexual assault.
But accroding to Mirror in the UK, the arrest was scuppered by a senior official as the District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute.
A bombshell court transcript has claimed that police in Las Vegas had even signed a warrant for Ronaldo’s arrest after accuser Kathryn Mayorga claimed he had assaulted her in a hotel room in June 2009.
But Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson declined to prosecute the case with no explanation given.
The claims were made by Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, in the US District Court in Las Vegas on September 21 last year, but the transcript has only just come to light after being unearthed by The Sun in the UK.
In the transcript, Stovall, revealed: “What happened is when that [arrest warrant] was submitted to the
district attorney’s office, Mr. Wolfson declined to prosecute.
“He doesn’t say why he decided to decline and anything – any argument is just speculation. It was within the statute of limitations.
“The police believed that they had a case to prosecute for one count of sexual assault and the DA decided not to.”
As revealed by the Mirror, Ronaldo’s bid to prevent the publication of police files about the alleged sex assault was due to be heard by a Las Vegas court earlier this month.
Ronaldo has been fighting an attempt by a newspaper to be given access to documents held by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The legal team acting on behalf of the Manchester United star argued that much of the information was obtained illegally by the Football Leaks website and is a breach of attorney-client privilege.
Ronaldo has always fiercely denied the claims, saying in 2018 that the accusation was “against everything that I am and believe in.”
Ms Mayorga’s lawyers agreed that all information obtained by an alleged computer hack shouldn’t be published until a court has ruled on whether it does infringe Ronaldo’s legal rights.
But they believe that the rest of the 400-plus documents should be released to the New York Times.
Judge Jennifer A Dorsey was due to hear legal arguments from both sides in court last Tuesday, February 8 with a final hearing to deliver a ruling on Ronaldo’s efforts to keep all police files out of the public domain scheduled for a later date.
His lawyers filed a “protective order” to prevent their release in November, after the LVMPD confirmed that they were planning to hand material to the newspaper.
The files, although redacted in parts, include crime reports, property records, voluntary statements by both accuser and accused, and other communications with detectives.
The initial hearing was twice delayed by Covid outbreaks on both sides.
Four months ago, a US magistrate judge recommended that an attempt by Ms Mayorga to sue Ronaldo for more than £56million should be dismissed because her case relied so heavily on documents obtained from Football Leaks.
A final ruling on whether her fight for damages may go ahead is yet to be announced.
She accepted a $375,000 (£276,260) payment from Ronaldo a few months after the alleged attack in his hotel suite at the Palms Place Hotel and signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Las Vegas police confirmed in 2019 that Ronaldo would not be facing a criminal prosecution after reopening their investigation into him the previous year.
Ms Mayorga refused to confirm the identity of her alleged attacker when she made a complaint to the LVMPD the day after meeting Ronaldo.
But she named the Portuguese forward and waived her rights to anonymity in an interview with Der Spiegel in 2018 after the German publication had been given information by Football Leaks.
Ms Mayorga said she felt compelled to speak out following the growth of the #MeToo movement after it was revealed Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually assaulted a number of women.
Ronaldo was negotiating his £80million departure from United to Real Madrid when the attack was alleged to have taken place.
He returned to United last summer after spending three years with Juventus.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s representatives have been contacted for comment.
Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The League of Wealthy Sportsmen
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2025
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