Former New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, have been added as defendants in a sexual abuse case connected to the Riveras’ church. The lawsuit, filed in January in Westchester County, New York’s Supreme Court, alleges a 12-year-old girl was sexually abused in 2018 at events affiliated with Refuge of Hope, a church founded by the Riveras in 2009, where Clara is a pastor.
Before moving to another building in New Rochelle, New York, Refuge of Hope members used the Riveras’ home as a gathering space. In the original filing, a limited liability company (LLC) was also listed that listed the Riveras’ former home address. According to ESPN, the Riveras were named as defendants after it was determined they were not connected to the LLC.
Adam Horowitz, who is representing the unnamed girl, said the details from the original lawsuit remain mostly the same. Neither Mariano, 55, or Clara have been formally charged.
According to the lawsuit, Refuge of Hope allegedly paid for the alleged victim to attend a summer camp program at an affiliated church in Gainesville, Florida where she claimed she was “repeatedly sexually abused” by a “much older camper.” The girl’s mother allegedly called Clara to tell her about the abuse, which led to both Clara and Mariano visiting the girl where they “each separately isolated and intimidated” her, according to the lawsuit.
Months later, the lawsuit alleges the girl was sexually abused by the same older boy during a barbecue at the Riveras’ home. The girl was allegedly “left unsupervised” with the individual.
The girl was also allegedly sexually assaulted in 2021 by a male youth leader at Refuge of Hope, according to the lawsuit. Police reports were filed in New York and Florida regarding the abuse by the girl and her mother in 2018 and 2021. In a statement to Us Weekly in January, the Riveras’ attorney, Joseph A. Ruta, denied the couple had participated in any sexual abuse cover-up.
“Mariano and Clara Rivera do not tolerate child abuse of any kind and allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false,” the statement read. “The very first time they heard about these allegations was nearly four years after the alleged incident, when in 2022 a New York attorney sent a letter requesting a financial settlement. This was followed by a second letter in 2023, from a different Florida law firm, again requesting a financial settlement.”
The statement continued, “The lawsuit, which seeks financial damages for the Riveras’ alleged failure to act on alleged incidents that were never reported to them, is full of inaccurate and misleading statements which we have no doubt will not hold up in a court of law.” Mariano, who became the first player to ever be unanimously inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019, played all 19 seasons of his MLB career with the Yankees before retiring in 2013.
