Sports

Lawyer: Vegas police seek Ronaldo DNA in rape investigation

10 of January 2019

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2018, file photo, Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the Champions League match at the Stade de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland. Ronaldo is being asked by police in the U.S. to provide a DNA sample in an ongoing investigation of a Nevada woman's allegation that he raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009, the soccer star's lawyer in Las Vegas said Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP, File),FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2018, file photo, Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the Champions League match at the Stade de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland. Ronaldo is being asked by police in the U.S. to provide a DNA sample in an ongoing investigation of a Nevada woman's allegation that he raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009, the soccer star's lawyer in Las Vegas said Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP, File)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyer says U.S. investigators are seeking DNA from Cristiano Ronaldo in their investigation of a Nevada woman’s allegation that the international soccer star raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009.

Attorney Peter S. Christiansen in Las Vegas provided no additional detail on Thursday. He did not immediately confirm a Wall Street Journal report citing an unnamed source saying that a warrant was sent to Italy to compel Ronaldo to submit a DNA sample.

Las Vegas police spokeswoman Laura Meltzer declined comment about the police investigation.

It was closed in 2009 but reopened days before the woman filed a civil lawsuit in Nevada in September claiming that Ronaldo raped her.

Ronaldo through his lawyers have denied the rape allegation.