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Legal“Cristiano Ronaldo's lawyers supplied an alternative version of questionnaire answers dated December 24, 2009 that differed from a version dated September 2009.”
Submitted by Sharp Tiger d6b5
The conclusion
Open in workbench →Reporting on the leaked case documents consistently describes two questionnaire versions: one from September 2009 and a different version sent on December 24, 2009 by Ronaldo's lawyers. That account is well-supported by major outlets, especially Der Spiegel's document-based reporting. The important caveat is that Ronaldo's side challenged the leaked materials' authenticity and alteration status.
Caveats
- The claim is strongest as a description of reported leaked documents, not as a court-established fact conclusively authenticated in litigation.
- Several outlets rely on the same leaked-document narrative, so repetition across articles is not the same as fully independent forensic verification.
- Ronaldo's legal team disputed the provenance and integrity of the documents, which limits certainty about the underlying original records.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
At 1:55 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2009, Osório de Castro sent out a document with the title "TQuestionsv2 ENG.doc." The recipients were Jay Lavely, a colleague of Lavely's and the two lawyers Rendeiro and Cortez. At first glance, the attachment appears to be the questionnaire from September. Ronaldo is identified as "X," while Mayorga is referred to as "Ms. C." The questions, too, are the same. But the answers from Ronaldo aren't even close to the same, as a direct comparison of the two versions makes clear.
In the documents dated from September 2009 and seen by Der Spiegel, Ronaldo was quoted as saying “she said no and stop several times” during sex. He is also said to have apologised afterwards. Ronaldo strongly denied the accusations and, in 2018, his lawyers said the document concerned was “completely fabricated”.
The complaint says the document "shows discrepancies between the version of the answers from September 2009 and the version of the answers from December 24, 2009." It also says the later version was supplied by Ronaldo's lawyers.
As part of the process which followed, Der Spiegel claims that Ronaldo’s lawyers had their client answer a questionnaire on the alleged incident, and that more than one version of Ronaldo’s answers exists. The magazine claims to have seen an early version of Ronaldo’s responses, dated September 2009, in which he is quoted as saying that Mayorga had “said ‘no’ and ‘stop’ several times,” and that he apologised to her afterwards.
Spiegel reports that, in a later version of the questionnaire from December, Ronaldo allegedly said the incident was consensual. Ronaldo's lawyers, according to the Associated Press, have since attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed after claiming that Mayorga’s lawyers had failed to disclose that hundreds of documents used were from the Football Leaks website.
Ronaldo's lawyers argued -- and the judge agreed -- the "Football Leaks" documents and the confidentiality agreement are the product of privileged attorney-client discussions, there is no guarantee they are authentic and can't be considered as evidence.
Der Spiegel responded by saying: "In our article, we quote two versions of a document with statements by Mr Ronaldo. It's a questionnaire that comes from his lawyers and describes the course of the night, in which the alleged rape occurred. The first version of this questionnaire, in which Ronaldo is quoted as saying that Ms Mayorga said 'no' and 'stop', is consistent with many details of Ms Mayorga's description of the incident. Both also state that he apologised to her afterwards. In a later version of this questionnaire, Mr Ronaldo denies the accusation of rape and denies apologising to Ms Mayorga." Lawyers representing the Juventus player said on Wednesday that documents had been "completely fabricated". Christiansen said the documents were "pure inventions" and the result of a 2015 cyber attack, during which electronic data was stolen from dozens of entities, including law firms, and that "significant parts" were "altered and/or completely fabricated."
Der Spiegel said it had seen a questionnaire from September 2009 in which Ronaldo said, among other things, that Mayorga said no and stop several times. The magazine later reported that a different version dated Dec. 24, 2009 existed and was sent by Ronaldo’s lawyers.
Before filing her complaint, Ms Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Stovall, received "ill-gotten" information and documents which were confidential and privileged, US District Judge Jennifer Dorsey wrote. The judge said the lawyer harmed Mr Ronaldo by conducting himself in "bad faith" through repeated use of stolen, privileged documents to prosecute the case. In a 42-page ruling, Judge Dorsey accused Stovall of "abuses and flagrant circumvention of the proper litigation process" and said that as a result, "Mayorga loses her opportunity to pursue this case." The ruling centres on Stovall’s use of documents that appear to come from the Football Leaks website, including communications between Ronaldo and his lawyers about a questionnaire on the incident. Ronaldo's lawyers argued those materials were privileged and incomplete, and said some documents were fabricated or altered.
In a 2010 civil settlement, Mr. Ronaldo agreed to pay Ms. Mayorga $375,000, according to the lawsuit. The complaint also cites what it says are previously confidential communications, including a questionnaire bearing Ronaldo’s signature that his lawyers prepared as part of that settlement. The complaint describes two versions of the questionnaire. In one, according to the complaint, Mr. Ronaldo is quoted as saying that Ms. Mayorga said "no" and "stop" during the encounter and that he apologized afterward. In a later version, the complaint says, Mr. Ronaldo denies the accusation of rape and denies apologizing.
"An alternative version of the document, supplied by Ronaldo's lawyers on December 24, 2009, had very different answers to the September paper." "The conversation between Ronaldo and his lawyer took place in August 2009, but the answers seem to have been modified between then and December 2009. An alternative version of the document, supplied by Ronaldo's lawyers on December 24, 2009, had very different answers to the September paper." "In the December version, Ronaldo's answer to 'what happened that night' was simply that she 'grabbed his d***.' ... But the answer was very different from the version created just two months prior."
Der Spiegel in 2017 reported Ronaldo was alleged to have raped an American woman, Kathryn Mayorga, during a holiday in Las Vegas in 2009. In the documents dated from September 2009 and seen by Der Spiegel, Ronaldo is quoted as saying “she said no and stop several times” during sex. He is also said to have apologised afterwards. In January 2010, Ronaldo’s legal team agreed to pay Mayorga an out-of-court settlement of $375,000 in return for her agreeing to never go public with the accusations. Ronaldo’s lawyers, according to the Associated Press, have since attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed after claiming that Mayorga’s lawyers had failed to disclose that hundreds of documents used were from the Football Leaks website. The Reddit post summarises that supposedly he admitted to it in a document, but notes that "nothing has been verified" and that key documents came from Football Leaks, which his lawyers say were fabricated.
Mayorga’s attorneys say that they have obtained from Football Leaks communications between Ronaldo’s legal team and Mayorga’s then-lawyer, including a questionnaire sent to Ronaldo and answers attributed to him. According to Der Spiegel, an early version of the questionnaire dated September 2009 quotes Ronaldo as saying that Mayorga said "no" and "stop" several times during sex and that he apologized afterward. A later version of the questionnaire, dated December 2009, reportedly omits those statements and contains more favorable answers. Ronaldo’s current lawyer, Peter Christiansen, has called the Der Spiegel document "complete fabrication" and contends that the leaked materials are altered or misrepresented attorney-client communications.
"Cristiano Ronaldo's lawyer has released a statement claiming documents regarding rape allegations are 'complete fabrications.'" "In a statement sent to CNN Sport, Christiansen said: 'The documents which purportedly contain statements by Mr. Ronaldo and have been reported in the media are complete fabrications.'" Although this statement disputes the authenticity of the documents, it implicitly acknowledges the existence of questionnaire-style documents whose contents are being compared and challenged.
"Football superstar's legal team earlier claimed the documents were fabricated." "Attorneys for a Nevada woman accusing Cristiano Ronaldo of rape challenged the international soccer star’s legal team on Thursday to prove that documents cited in European media reports about their 2009 encounter in Las Vegas are false." This article refers to the set of documents, including the questionnaire answers, whose differing versions (September 2009 and December 24, 2009) were reported by Der Spiegel and are now being contested by Ronaldo's lawyers.
Stovall & Associates delivered two sets of documents to Las Vegas police. One were the communications and correspondence between Cristiano Ronaldo and his team contemporaneous with the negotiations and agreement for settlement and non-disclosure, and the firm also obtained written questions to Cristiano Ronaldo from his team and written answers to these questions attributed to Cristiano Ronaldo. In Stovall & Associates’ opinion, the documents obtained from Football Leaks appeared to be evidence of the 2009 sexual assault of Kathryn Mayorga by Cristiano Ronaldo and the separate crime of obstruction of justice. Stovall said his firm delivered these documents to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and requested a separate investigation for obstruction of justice.
Cristiano Ronaldo is being asked by police to provide a DNA sample in an investigation of a Nevada woman’s allegation that he raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009 and paid her to keep quiet, the soccer star’s lawyer and Las Vegas police said Thursday. Las Vegas police reopened their investigation in 2018 after the German magazine Der Spiegel published an article based on leaked documents that included a questionnaire and answers attributed to Ronaldo. Those leaked documents, which Mayorga’s lawyers say show inconsistencies between different versions, have been turned over to investigators.
"Ronaldo has 'firmly' denied assaulting Ms Mayorga at a Las Vegas hotel." "Der Spiegel says it has seen documents that show Ronaldo agreed to pay Ms Mayorga $375,000 (£288,000) in return for her silence." The BBC piece summarises Der Spiegel’s reporting about the documents, including reference to the questionnaire and settlement paperwork, and notes that Ronaldo’s lawyers dispute the authenticity of these materials, which include the differing questionnaire versions from September and December 24, 2009.
"The communications that Stovall obtained from Football Leaks and used in this case include copies of a private settlement agreement between Ronaldo and Mayorga and a questionnaire and answers that Ronaldo allegedly provided to his attorneys." "Ronaldo maintains that the electronic documents are the product of a cyber hack and that they were doctored before being published by Der Spiegel." The federal court order in the Nevada case confirms the existence of a "questionnaire and answers" attributed to Ronaldo and used in litigation, the same category of document Der Spiegel describes as having a September 2009 version and a later version sent on December 24, 2009.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed the civil case against Cristiano Ronaldo, finding that the plaintiff’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, based key portions of the case on confidential documents that were leaked and stolen. Those documents included communications between Ronaldo’s lawyers and a questionnaire purportedly containing Ronaldo’s answers about the incident. The judge wrote that Stovall’s use of the leaked documents was "bad faith" and that the documents had been obtained from Football Leaks, which Ronaldo’s legal team has consistently maintained were altered or fabricated as part of a cyberattack.
"A US judge has dismissed a $25 million (€23.77 million) lawsuit against Manchester United footballer Cristiano Ronaldo linked to a 2009 rape allegation." "Ronaldo's legal team had argued that the information was obtained illegally by Football Leaks and that documents had been altered." The DW report references the same hacked documents at issue in the lawsuit, which include the questionnaire and differing versions of Ronaldo's answers described by Der Spiegel as a September 2009 'Q&A' and a December 24, 2009 'TQuestionsv2 ENG.doc.'
This article summarises Der Spiegel’s reporting on Cristiano Ronaldo’s case and notes that the magazine published details of a confidential questionnaire attributed to Ronaldo. It explains that the questionnaire was prepared by Ronaldo’s lawyers, that his answers were recorded, and that there were later disputes over whether these documents were authentic or had been altered—corresponding to claims about different questionnaire versions from September 2009 and December 24, 2009.
"Ronaldo has 'vehemently' denied the rape allegation, saying he had 'consensual' relations with his accuser." "This is a legal response drafted by a lawyer." While focused on Ronaldo's denial, this legal response is part of the broader context in which his lawyers addressed media reports on the hacked documents, including the questionnaires with differing September and December 24, 2009 answers.
This Argentine sports article reports on statements by Cristiano Ronaldo's lawyer reacting to Der Spiegel's publication of documents about the 2009 incident. It explains that Ronaldo's lawyer claimed the documents, including the purported questionnaire and answers, were "completely fabricated" or altered, thereby contesting the integrity of the versions reported (such as the September 2009 and December 24, 2009 questionnaires).
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Debate
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
Authoritative reporting and legal filings confirm that Cristiano Ronaldo's legal team supplied an alternative version of his questionnaire answers on December 24, 2009, which directly contradicted the admissions made in the original September 2009 version (Source 1, Source 3, Source 11). This December document, titled "TQuestionsv2 ENG.doc," was explicitly sent by Ronaldo's lawyer Osório de Castro to other members of the legal team and altered previous statements regarding consent and apologies (Source 1, Source 8, Source 10).
The Proponent treats Der Spiegel's narrative about “TQuestionsv2 ENG.doc” as dispositive, but the only “sent by Ronaldo's lawyers” linkage is itself downstream of leaked Football Leaks materials whose authenticity Ronaldo's counsel categorically contests as altered or “completely fabricated,” so the argument assumes the very premise in dispute (Source 1; Source 7; Source 14). Moreover, citing a complaint's characterization and media summaries (Source 3; Source 8; Source 10) does not “confirm” that a genuine alternative December 24, 2009 answer set was supplied by the defense, especially when the U.S. court record underscores these were ill-gotten privileged documents with no guarantee of authenticity—making the Proponent's conclusion a textbook appeal to authority without resolving provenance (Source 19; Source 9; Source 6).
Argument against
The motion treats the December 24, 2009 “alternative version” as a proven document supplied by Ronaldo's lawyers, but the only direct basis for that assertion is the plaintiff-side complaint and media reporting built on hacked “Football Leaks” materials whose authenticity is explicitly disputed (CNN, Source 3; Reuters, Source 8; Sports Illustrated, Source 13). Given Ronaldo's legal team's categorical position that the questionnaire documents were “completely fabricated” or altered (BBC, Source 7; CNN, Source 14) and the U.S. court's finding that the case relied on “ill-gotten” privileged materials with no guarantee of authenticity (BBC News, Source 9; ESPN, Source 6; Court order, Source 19), it is false to state as fact that his lawyers supplied a genuine alternative December 24, 2009 set of answers differing from a September 2009 version.
The Opponent's argument relies on a logical fallacy by conflating the legal admissibility of the documents with their historical existence, which is confirmed by contemporaneous email metadata showing lawyer Osório de Castro sent the revised "TQuestionsv2 ENG.doc" on December 24, 2009 (Source 1, Source 8). Furthermore, the Opponent fails to account for the fact that the defense's own public statements and court filings implicitly acknowledge the existence of these differing questionnaire versions while merely disputing their integrity and authorization (Source 3, Source 14, Source 19).
Panel Review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Reviewer 1 — The Logic Examiner
Sources describing the leaked materials (especially Der Spiegel's account of an email sending “TQuestionsv2 ENG.doc” on Dec. 24, 2009 and noting its answers differ from the September 2009 version) plus multiple secondary reports repeating that the later version was supplied/sent by Ronaldo's lawyers (Sources 1, 3, 8, 10, 13) form a coherent chain that such an alternative version existed within the leaked set and differed from the earlier one. However, because the only basis for attributing this to Ronaldo's lawyers is the contested Football Leaks corpus and plaintiff-side characterizations, and Ronaldo's team and later court discussions emphasize possible alteration/fabrication and lack of authenticity assurance (Sources 7, 9, 19), the evidence does not logically establish as fact that his lawyers truly supplied a genuine alternative December 24, 2009 answer set, so the claim is not proven and is best judged mostly false.
Reviewer 2 — The Source Auditor
The most reliable sources are Der Spiegel (Source 1), which directly examined the email metadata and differing document contents sent by Ronaldo's lawyer on December 24, 2009, along with corroborating reports from Reuters (Source 8), CNN (Source 3), and WSJ (Source 10) that independently summarize the same questionnaire versions without relying on circular republication. These high-authority outlets confirm the claim while noting authenticity disputes from Ronaldo's side, which do not refute the documented existence of the alternative version in the evidence.
Reviewer 3 — The Precision Analyst
The claim accurately reflects the documented allegations and reporting that Ronaldo's lawyers supplied a revised questionnaire on December 24, 2009, which differed from the September 2009 version (Source 1, Source 3, Source 8). While Ronaldo's legal team disputes the authenticity and admissibility of these leaked documents, the existence of these two distinct versions in the legal record and investigative reporting is well-documented.