The German newspaper Der Spiegel in court won the right to re-publish the materials two years ago about evasion Cristiano Ronaldo from taxes. They had previously been removed at the request of legal company representing the interests of the athlete, which accused the journalists of violating the right to private life. After lawyers for the footballer has withdrawn a lawsuit, the weekly has posted the inquiry on the Portuguese.

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“Can you present the materials to their readers”

Ahead of the decisive matches of the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo has faced a number of problems. First he got injured in the qualifying match of Euro 2020, with Serbia, which will not allow him to play in the first quarter final of the Champions League with Ajax, and then was defeated in court.

We are talking about the proceedings around the material of the German weekly Der Spiegel, in which the Portuguese was accused of tax evasion. The investigation saw the light at the end of 2016, and representatives of Ronaldo immediately sued the publication, accusing journalists of violating the right to privacy. Did the Spanish legal company Senn Ferrero, whose client long time was an athlete. He is in court not addressed.

In February 2017 they achieved local success: the Hamburg regional court forced Der Spiegel to remove suitable material from public access until the end of the investigation. And in case of violation of the magazine was threatened with a fine of 250 thousand euros.

Der Spiegel appealed the decision, and in the fall hearings were transferred to the Higher regional court of Hamburg.

The dispute lasted more than two years and ended in favor of the weekly, since representatives of Ronaldo decided to withdraw his complaint.

After the court decision, Der Spiegel, placed in free access those materials.

“After more than two years of the trial Der Spiegel could present to his readers the materials, revealing one of the biggest tax scandals in the history of football”, — reads the statement of the edition.

Investigation century

Very large-scale investigation was the fruit of the work of journalists 12 publications, including Der Spiegel, who have joined together in a consortium Football Leaks. It told that Ronaldo has hidden taxes in the amount of about EUR 150 million through offshore accounts in Switzerland and the British virgin Islands.

In addition to Ronaldo, the “heroes” of the steel material well-known coach Jose Mourinho, as well as such football stars like Mesut Ozil, Radamel Falcao, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho and James Rodriguez. Everyone except the Germans, were United by one and the same agent — Jorge Mendes odious.

The alleged scheme of tax evasion was fully developed by this functionary. However, the agent company Gestifute, prior to the publication of material is called the information contained in it untrue.

In the “Real world” also denied the results of the investigation Football Leaks and said that Ronaldo had always fulfilled all tax obligations.

“Given the information published in the last days, and taking into account the evidence provided by the Spanish tax authorities which confirm that our footballer Cristiano Ronaldo fulfills all tax obligations of FC “real Madrid” calls for the ultimate respect for the player. His behavior was exemplary during the whole time of stay in our club”, — said in a statement on the official website of real Madrid.

Anyway, content is interested in the tax authorities in Spain, where almost immediately after their publication began the investigation into Portuguese.

As a result, in the summer of 2017 prosecutors accused Ronaldo of concealment of income and evasion of taxes. However, it was not of 150 millions euros, as stated in the German weekly, and about 14.5 million euros in the period from 2011 to 2014. It was noted that Cristiano has created a “business structure” to hide income from promotional activities.

A year later, during the world Cup in Russia, the athlete made a deal with the investigation and agreed to two years of probation and a fine in the amount of 18.8 million euros. In January 2019, he was sentenced to 23 months probation.

Was indirectly recognized wine and other persons involved in the investigation. So, Mourinho, whom Der Spiegel was accused of tax evasion amounting to about 12 million euros, Spain was sentenced to a year of probation and a fine of two million. The coach, like his former Lieutenant, hid the income from image rights. Two million euros, the Spanish court was forced to pay and Ozil.

A rape charge

The tax evasion is not the only obvineniem that the journalists of Der Spiegel has put forward to address Ronaldo. In 2017 in the pages of the German weekly has reported that Cristiano in 2009 was raped 20-year-old girl and then paid her $375 thousand for silence. A year later he became known the name of the “victim” player — she was the model of Catherine Mayorga.

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“Rape is a heinous crime that goes against all of my beliefs. Not to profane his name, I refuse to give the media reason to speculate on the rumors that have come up, those wishing to cash in on my behalf,” wrote Cristiano on Twitter.

Mayorga claims that he decided to talk about rape because she was inspired by the movement #MeToo. 34-year-old Mayorga told reporters that eminent athlete raped her in 2009 during a party in Las Vegas.

According to the girl, right after she wrote a statement to the police, but then the parties reached a settlement and Mayorga received for his silence, $375 thousand

Later, one of the advocates of the model, Leslie Stovall, said that his client after the incident, suffers from depression and abuses alcohol. Lawyers of the girl demanded that Ronaldo for 20 days paid Mayorga $200 thousand as compensation of moral damage, but he to do this refused.

The lawyer Cristiano Peter Christiansen said in response that the documents with the recognition of the football player of rape was fabricated.

“The documents, which allegedly contain statements and Ronaldo which have been reproduced in the press, was fabricated. These documents were stolen, and before the publication of their grossly distorted. Ronaldo expresses full confidence that the truth will prevail”, — quotes the lawyer AFP.