Ronaldo hires celebrity lawyer following rape allegations

Cristiano Ronaldo has hired attorney David Chesnoff, who has built a reputation as ‘lawyer of the stars’ to defend him after Las Vegas police reopened an investigation into a rape accusation made by a former model who said Ronaldo attacked her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite in 2009.

The famous criminal lawyer has already worked with well-known athletes like Shaquille O'Neal, Mike Tyson and Andre Agassi as well as other celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars.

According to a report by Spanish newspaper AS, Chesnoff has not wasted any time in getting to work. Immediately after he was taken on by Ronaldo on Wednesday, he issued a statement "categorically" denying the accusations made by former model Kathryn Mayorga.

Mayorga, 34, accused Ronaldo, in a 32-page complaint filed last month with a district court in Nevada, of raping her on June 13, 2009.

On Wednesday, Ronaldo had denied the allegations against him from his Twitter account.

"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," the Portuguese superstar tweeted in Portuguese and English.

"Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in," said the 33-year-old Juventus forward.

"Keen as I may be to clear my name I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense," Ronaldo said.

"My clear conscious (sic) will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations," he added on his Twitter feed @Cristiano, which has nearly 75 million followers.