The Nevada Supreme Court has temporarily suspended Las Vegas attorney Leslie Stovall for misconduct in a 2009 rape case against soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. Stovall also faces disbarment.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the State Bar of Nevada Counsel overseeing attorney discipline Daniel Hooge confirmed Stovall’s censure comes from his actions in the Ronaldo case.
Stovall was previously ordered to pay the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid legend’s attorneys over $330,000 in legal fees.
crossed the border of ethical behavior”
Stovall represented Kathryn Mayorga, who claimed Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas in 2009. A US District Judge dismissed the case in 2022, ruling that Stovall “crossed the border of ethical behavior.”
The transgression that led to the case being dismissed and Stovall in trouble was the attorney basing Mayorga’s case on leaked and stolen privileged communications between Ronaldo and his attorneys, printed in the German newspaper Der Spiegel.
“Football Leaks, a website of leaked soccer documents, gave Der Spiegel the information” on Mayorga’s sexual assault allegations, read the State Bar’s complaint against Stovall. Stovall in turn, the Bar alleged, requested and received information from the leak’s source on Ronaldo, including emails between lawyers.
In confirming Stovall’s suspension, which included a recommendation to the Supreme Court he be disbarred, Hooge said attorneys were under obligation to obey the law and that “obtaining documents that an attorney knows are stolen is a violation of professional rules.”
Representatives of the veteran Portuguese striker made a deal in 2010 for Mayorga to receive $375,000, with Ronaldo’s attorneys stating the soccer star and Mayorga had consensual sex.
