Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and wife Clara deny covering up child sexual abuse

Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, have denied allegations made in a bombshell lawsuit that they covered up the sexual abuse of a minor at their Rye, N.Y., home and at a summer camp associated with their church in 2018.

“Mariano and Clara Rivera do not condone child abuse of any kind, and allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false,” Joseph A. Ruta, the Riveras’ attorney, said Thursday in a statement. “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 another letter in 2023, from a another Florida law firm that again requested a financial settlement.

“The lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages for the Riveras’ alleged failure to act regarding alleged incidents that were never reported to them, is full of inaccurate and misleading statements that we certainly will not hold up in a court of law.”

The lawsuit, filed last week in state Supreme Court in Westchester, alleges that the plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe, was repeatedly sexually abused in the dormitory and shower room at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Florida, by an older girl.

The Riveras “each isolated and induced Jane Doe to remain silent about her abuse,” the lawsuit alleges.

The same girl accused of sexually abusing Jane Doe allegedly did it again at the Riveras’ home in Rye in August 2018.

“Our lawsuit alleges that Mariano and Clara Rivera had a duty to protect our client and missed the opportunity to save her from the harm of sexual abuse,” said Adam Horowitz of Horowitz Law, one of the attorneys representing the victim , in a statement. given to The Post on Wednesday.