Ronaldo last week claimed an Italian property firm had been wrongly linking his name to deals that included the New York pad and a hotel in Monaco. But Proto Enterprises have lodged a £7.8million defamation case against the Real Madrid star, insisting he splashed out on the luxury Fifth Avenue apartment as a gift for his close friend Badr Hari. Kickboxer Hari and Ronaldo have become close friends over the past year, with the player reportedly making regular trips to Africa to see him. Ronaldo’s representatives last week revealed they had started proceedings in the Italian courts against Proto Enterprises, led by property tycoon Alessandro Proto. They claim Proto has wrongly linked the star to a series of deals,including the £11.8m loft apartment in the building owned by US presidential candidate Donald Trump. A statement released last week said: “The name and the image of Cristiano have been used now for quite some time by a company whose presentation of false information has made them subject to a court case in the Italian justice system.” But Proto has come out fighting and says one of the reasons the star is so unhappy is be­cause details of him gifting the flat to his friend have been made public. Source: scoopnest.com]]>