Massimo Pinca/Reuters
Nevada law enforcement officials investigating a sexual-assault accusation against the soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo have obtained a warrant for a sample of the player’s DNA, according to one of his lawyers, who dismissed it as a “very standard request.”
The officials have sent the warrant to authorities in Italy, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the existence of the warrant. Ronaldo, a Portuguese wing and five-time world player of the year, plays in Italy for the powerhouse club Juventus.
Investigators are seeking the DNA sample as part of a recently reopened investigation into accusations by an American woman, Kathryn Mayorga, who says Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009 and later paid her $375,0000 for her silence.