Larissa Drohobyczer and Leslie Stovall, the lawyers of Kathryn Mayorga, have challenged Cristiano Ronaldo to back his claim that the evidence against him is fake. This comes after the 33-year-old Portuguese football star's lawyer Peter Christiansen stated that the documents indicting his client were "altered or completely fabricated".
According to him, the said documents were obtained via a cyber-criminal hack which took place in 2015. An excerpt from his statement released on Wednesday reads as follows: "To be clear, Mr. Ronaldo vehemently denies all of the allegations in the complaint and has consistently maintained that denial for the last nine years.
"The documents which purportedly contain statements by Mr. Ronaldo and have been reported in the media are complete fabrications. It is my understanding that in 2015, dozens of entities [including law firms] across many different industries throughout Europe were hacked and their electronic data was stolen and captured by a cybercriminal.
"This hacker attempted to sell this data, and one media outlet has now irresponsibly published the stolen documents, significant portions of which were altered and/or completely fabricated. To absolve any doubt, Mr. Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in 2009 in Las Vegas was consensual in nature."
On Friday, Larissa Drohobyczer and Leslie Stovall, representing Mayorga, came in with a rebuttal to address the falsification claim by Mr. Christiansen. Per Sky Sports, they said: "We thank Cristiano Ronaldo's latest lawyer for confirming and admitting in his October 10, 2018 statement that the 'Football Leaks' documents were obtained from Cristiano Ronaldo or individuals acting on his behalf.
"We look forward to reviewing any evidence that tends to prove, as Mr. Ronaldo's lawyer asserts, that some of the 'Football Leaks' documents were altered, fabricated, or contain false/inaccurate information.
"In both civil and criminal cases, disputes regarding the accuracy of documents are generally questions of fact to be decided by the jury. A jury determines the accuracy of disputed documents by: 1) Comparing of the different versions of the disputed documents; 2) Listening to the testimony of the individuals who wrote, prepared, transmitted, and stored the disputed documents; 3) Considering the circumstances under which the documents were written, prepared, transmitted, stored and maintained; and 4) Listening to the testimony of forensic experts who have examined the disputed, and the devices upon which the documents were written, prepared, transmitted, and stored.
"In a civil case, discovery is conducted to obtain evidence regarding these matters through the exchange of disputed documents, the forensic examination of disputed documents and devices, and the examination of witnesses under oath. In criminal cases, the prosecutors rely upon investigator's review of disputed documents, the forensic examination of devices and disputed documents, and questioning of witnesses.
"Any document or information under the control or in the possession of Cristiano Ronaldo should be immediately turned over to the appropriate law enforcement agencies and the offices of Stovall & Associates to expedite the investigation and resolution of the alleged discrepancies in the 'Football Leaks' documents."
Cristiano Ronaldo's legal team is yet to make any comment on the content of the new statement.
