Lawsuit accuses Yankees' Hall of Famer, wife of covering up child sexual abuse

A lawsuit filed in Westchester County last week accuses New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera and his wife of covering up child sexual abuse in their roles as church leaders.

The complaint, which was first reported on and uploaded by gnvinfo.com, alleges one of the assaults occurred at a church function held at the Riveras’ primary residence.

Refugio De Esperanza, Inc. (Refuge Of Hope) is named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed Jan. 16 by a minor, Jane Doe, and her mother. The lawsuit claims Clara Rivera, "an employee and/or agent of Refugio and the pastor of Refugio," recommended to the girl's mother that she attend a summer internship in Florida at which minors were assigned to stay in a dormitory without adult supervision.

When Clara and Mariano Rivera traveled to the summer internship in Florida, they "learned or should have learned information that Jane A Doe was being sexually abused by" an older minor, according to the lawsuit.

"Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of Jane A Doe, the Riveras each separately isolated and intimated Jane A Doe to remain silent about her abuse ... to avoid causing trouble for Refugio and the Ignite Life Summer Internship," the suit claims.

Later that summer, according to the suit, the church held a barbecue at the Rivera’s Rye, New York, residence for minors who were members of the church. The suit alleges that the plaintiff was left alone with — and subsequently sexually assaulted again — by the same teen member of the church.

The lawsuit further claims Mariano and Clara Rivera “falsely promoted their activities and premises as being safe, moral, and otherwise free of a risk of harm when it knew or should have known otherwise.”

In a statement issued to USA Today Sports, a lawyer for the Riveras called the allegations "completely false."

"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," Ruta said in the statement. The first time the couple learned of the allegations was in 2022 after receiving a letter from an attorney requesting a financial settlement, Ruta said.

"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," Ruta said.

Gnvinfo.com interviewed alumni of the internship the Riveras promoted, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God Church. One claimed that participants were not allowed access to their mobile phones until the child of a lawyer attended.

"So they're like, “Oh, okay. He's a lawyer; we gotta chill out.” They started to reverse policies because they realized that they could get into serious trouble for involuntarily taking phones and not allowing people to have them," the anonymous whistleblower said.

Rivera was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote in 2019.

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