Flatley Wins Again

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Irish Voice Entertainment

Flatley Wins Again

September 6, 2007

By Debbie McGoldrick

FINALLY, justice has been served for Michael Flatley, who suffered through the indignity of having his sterling reputation dragged through the mud by a gold-digger who falsely charged that he raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2002. The rape claim never saw the light of day in a criminal courtroom, of course – the so-called “victim,” Tyna Robertson, was unable to fool police – but Robertson and her pit bull attorney, Dean Mauro of Illinois, attempted to extort a pile of money from the Lord of the Dance creator/star unless he paid up.

Michael didn’t get to where he is today by standing idly by, so he fought back and slapped the pair with a couple of multi-million dollar lawsuits for filing a false rape claim, attempted extortion and emotional distress. Now, according to reports, that suit has been settled in Michael’s favor with an undisclosed seven-figure lump sum.

“This kind of thing might have worked against someone else but they weren’t going to work against me. I wanted the truth to be known,” Michael told the Irish Independent last week. “I think it is disgraceful the way that some people should try to extort money with bogus claims.”

In addition to never receiving a nickel from Flatley, Mauro has also lost his ability to practice law for a living, as he had his license suspended for 12 months, and possibly longer, this past May. He’ll have to apply again next year to be reinstated, but apparently that process isn’t easy.

Michael said the encounter with Robertson was consensual. We spoke with him not long after the charges came to light and he was simply aghast, but ready to fight back with a vengeance.

As always, he’s moved on to bigger and better things, unlike his two accusers. Now happily married to fellow dancer Niamh O’Brien and a dad for the first time to baby Michael Junior, Michael is one star who’s shown that he will not suffer fools when it comes to his good name. More power to him.

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