Nevada Lawyer Risks Losing License Over Behavior in Ronaldo Case

A drawn-out legal battle involving a Las Vegas attorney and claims against Cristiano Ronaldo has reached a critical point. The Nevada Supreme Court has issued a temporary ban and is considering whether to strip the lawyer of his right to practice.

Suspended Las Vegas Attorney Awaits Ruling in Controversial Ronaldo Case

Leslie Mark Stovall, who has been a Nevada attorney since the mid-1980s, cannot take on new clients following a November 21 ruling that backed the State Bar’s call for quick disciplinary action. He can keep working with his current clients until the year ends, but the state’s highest court will decide if he can continue his career, reported The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The disciplinary action against Stovall comes from his work for Kathryn Mayorga, who said the Portuguese soccer star raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. A federal judge threw out the civil lawsuit in 2022. It fell apart when the court found that Stovall had based the main arguments on leaked documents that were not supposed to be public. The judge decided that he had gone way beyond what is okay for a lawyer and had kept ignoring established rules.

At the heart of the misconduct charges were claims that Stovall looked for documents first exposed on a European website known to spread hacked soccer files. These records included private conversations between Ronaldo and his lawyers that had come to light years before in German news reports. State Bar officials said Stovall tried to get more materials from the person behind the leak, which broke both ethical and legal rules for lawyer conduct. Stovall has always denied this, saying he did not contact the source or use stolen files.

Long History of Sanctions Weighs Heavily in Attorney’s High-Stakes Case

The disciplinary panel that looked into the case decided in 2024 that taking away Stovall’s law license was the right move. They pointed out what they saw as his intentional misuse of protected communications and his habit of using aggressive tactics that made things harder for other lawyers. The panel also mentioned Stovall’s long history of professional punishments, including earlier suspensions and public scoldings. In their written report, the board cautioned that letting him keep practicing without stepping in could make people trust the legal system even less.

People speaking for the State Bar said lawyers must stay away from any materials they know were obtained unlawfully. They argued that Stovall’s actions did not meet this standard. Stovall did not answer when asked to comment, but his office confirmed he was still working with his current clients.

Ronaldo keeps denying he attacked Mayorga, and his lawyers say the two had sex with mutual consent. The soccer star’s legal team already got more than $330,000 in fees after the federal court threw out the case. How this case ended is now a key part of the process that could finish Stovall’s career.