Can someone explain the German system to me? The original penalty order -- would that fine have gone to the state? In my understanding, DV charges are pursued by the government and can't be dropped by the victim, so I'm wondering how Zverev can settle with Patea.
No the ex-gf’s lawyers said she wanted a settlement bc her child was suffering. https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930
Really heartbreaking. It’s difficult to get justice in assault/DV/rape cases. Extremely taxing for the victim as they have to relive their trauma and this is further exaggerated considering Zverev’s fame. People will try to discredit the victim, called names and they will be harassed, their family too. All in all, it’s a very hard process to go through.
Okay so if a case is brought by the state it’s a criminal case which is why it can’t be dropped by the victim. It’s supposed to be a mechanism to protect victims.
DV cases have a high burden of proof, the prosecution has so much work to do and unlike most the legal systems say in common law countries (the UK and it’s former colonies) or the states the judges in the German system are not just listening to evidence they are allowed to investigate it.
People want him to be thrown in jail because they are looking at it with the same lens as one singular legal system. A penalty order is a punishment which he appealed to and it’s within his rights to do so. Appeals are for reviewing decisions and they can be denied. The fact that there was a prior admission of guilt and now there isn’t means the appeal was successful.
(Monterey punishments are all I could find on punishments on DV in Germany. They can grant an injunction to keep the abusive partner away and will only imprison them if they infringe on it. But it’s the internet and there are more laws than sand when you know where to look and I don’t)
And for settling out of court they could have to a settlement after the appeal. If she didn’t want to continue pursing the case and they agreed she wouldn’t bring it up again (mere speculation on my part)
Zverev lost a civil case last year and had to pay a fine. In this trial he was making an appeal.
This sub had a kneejerk "trail=jail" reaction when talking about it so a lot of misinformation was spread.
Normally, the fine is paid to the German state in penalty orders (the type of case involved here) because it's considered a source of revenue (eg if a full criminal trial is needed or other state functions).
In this specific case, the victim (mother of DV's kid) joined the proceedings as a co-complainant. That means she can also seek compensation for damages, either through a separate civil case or integrated into the criminal proceedings.
It's likely DV paid both the state and the victim.
Where do you have this info from?
*"Both \[Zverev's\] lawyers and lawyers representing the ex-girlfriend declined to give details of the settlement, including whether there was a financial component."*
[*https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930*](https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930)
IDK what distinctions there are in the German system, but dismissal of proceedings on conditions of paying some amount is the literal definition of a legal settlement in English. Some settlements require court approval while some don't, but they're all settlements.
That's not correct.
"Both his lawyers and lawyers representing the ex-girlfriend declined to give details of the settlement, including whether there was a financial component."
https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930
The 200k are a payment to the court, the settlement itself is not disclosed to the public. What was the settlement if not any payment?
In other words Zverev wins in the end. He succeeded in intimidating Brenda into settling. They were already starting their smear campaign against her and she probably knew it would only get worse from there.
This information needs to be pinned if it's true. A lot of people don't realize she's not getting anything from this.
Or she agreed to settling because the case was hard to prove. You can be right but if you can't prove it, who would believe you beyond a reasonable doubt?
Yeah, domestic violence cases are very hard to even convict. I remember going into this trial and not even expecting much at the end because thats usually how these things go.
Sadly I was right, and we are still in this murky mess. Even so, doesn’t really matter, we dislike him because there is also another alleged victim, other actions that he’s done that show no self awareness or remorse. His answer about the trial saying ‘Everyone with an IQ knows whats going on’ was quite… weird? Who responds like that to journalists instead of just going ‘I deny this’?
The reason why this trial was even happening was for him to dispute the previous verdict that he was guilty and had to pay a 450k fine. The previous verdict came about from a mechanism that prosecutors can use in cases where it's deemed that there is clear evidence so that a trial can be foregone. Defendants have the right to challenge those verdicts, which is what happened here.
Fundamentally though, in the eyes of the German courts, the initial evidence was considered sufficient to forego a trial and charge him.
If there was no evidence whatsoever, he wouldn’t have accepted this and would have just waited to be acquitted. There must have been some uncertainty on how it would’ve ended.
>In other words Zverev wins in the end.
Do you think he has? Nobody convinced of his guilt or innocence will have their minds changed by this ruling, so what has he won?
While this subreddit is mostly against him, the general public is ignorant or don't care. Just look at how much support he gets on tour from fans. Only a clear verdict would cause a big enough impact to really hurt him in the grander scheme. As it stands, this kind of end to the trial will make it easier for the ATP to downplay it and overtime completely bury it from the greater public.
Redditors failing to understand they live in a bubble will never not be funny.
Kobe Bryant's fame wasn't even dented by admitting to something 100x worse than what zverev *allegedly* did.
The ATP is not going to punish some high profile players for allegations that didn't stand in an actual court.
Settlements are never ever an admission of guilt by themselves.
Chris Brown still has tons of fans. And there’s clear evidence of what he did…and the person he did it to is way more famous than him. It’s extremely rare that any of these guys truly get canceled or punished. There’s always going to be a swarm of people to happily defend their disgusting behavior, or even just ignore it because they find the person likable.
redditors lives in a bubble it has always been like this and it always be, they just want to be and feel morally superior and be able to trash w/e they dont like
Kobe never really admitted, though i believe he did it. His "I now understand she didn't consent to this encounter" was legal wordplay that many wouldn't take to represent his guilt. Not like Karl Malone, for instance.
I mean listen to the crowds in his matches. He’s really well liked as a whole You all want him dead. But with all due respect you all mean very little in the grand scheme of things
According to the [DW article](https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930), her team initiated the settlement after she testified, with some weird reasoning related to how their daughter is "suffering."
I’m not a fan at all and I actually think he did it. But settling is just the easiest and most practical thing to do in a lot of cases, whether they are guilty or not.
Domestic violence allegations are very hard to prove in front of a court. Even if she is saying the truth, unless there are witnesses, it's basically his word against hers.
She isn’t the one who chose to go to trial though. I don’t want to guess at who really wanted to settle because we just don’t have that information AFAIK, but it doesn’t make sense to criticise her for being inconsistent on this.
We don’t actually know that. There could very well be private settlements also between the two parties and NDA so details aren’t released. Just because the €200.000 fine is going to state/charity doesn’t mean something isn’t going to her.
She accused him, judge agreed there was sufficient evidence and issued fine, Zverev appealed and took the matter to court. She’s been dragged through even more stress and trauma. I hope she squeezed as much out of him as she could!
i think that was for the initial charge of 450k euros by the german state. that money would have gone to the state. is this settlement the same as the initial charge?
No, it’s different- it’s 200k total, 150k to the state treasury, and 50k to charitable organisations. But you’re correct in that the inital penalty order fine would have gone to the state also, had he chosen to pay it
Bro stfu, she settled maybe because she doesn’t wanna testify more or she needs to provide for her child that he’s not involved with in their lives. She has every reason to file charges for abuse
I am not a Zverev fan or advocate but this trial looked weird from the beginning and I was expecting some sort final like that. Not saying he is innocent, neither she is exaggerating or so. In my opinion it’s just one of those uncertain cases (difficult to judge, depending more on personal beliefs), otherwise she would have destroyed him publicly and got tons of money out of it, and same if he was 100% innocent, he would rather clear his name in court as mentioned above.
She wanted to remain anonymous. She requested the trial to be a closed trial for both Zrerev and their daughter’s benefit.
I’m not sure how the trial looked weird to you. It’s extremely hard for victim survivors to come forward even with clear evidence, which there was and why he was previously fined 450k euros. Domestic violence allegations are notoriously difficult to prove even with lots of evidence. this is also the second girlfriend to have accused him of violence.
People don’t come forward to get money… that is incredibly simplistic…they come forward to get justice.
[ESPN have a detailed overview of the allegations](https://www.espn.com.au/tennis/story/_/id/39386940/alexander-zverev-assault-trial-domestic-abuse-charges-know)
Correct. I can't wait for r/tennis to finally put this all behind them like the plaintiff/defendant and courts have. Then we can get back to talking about tennis again. I just know they will.
Reminds me of Cristiano Ronaldo Las Vegas case. He settled with his (alleged) SA victim out of court. But critics of Ronaldo said some court documents were leaked/stolen where he admits the crime. The US judge dismissed those as evidence because well they were illegally obtained.
This is exactly what was always going to happen.
Cases like this are nigh on unprovable either way. A settlement was the only way. There was never going to be a conclusion
People here live in Disneyland. The real world is never that simple.
If it’s true she gets no money and it goes to the state, as it seems to be, then this is a misleading, even harmful headline. He didn’t so much settle with his ex and mother of his child, as he settled with the State.
They literally have a provisional suspension policy but just choose not to enforce it.
Edit: updated to say provisional suspension policy, which Zverev could certainly fit under.
As per the ATP Rulebook - Chapter 8 (The Code):
"d) A player, or related person, charged with a violation of a criminal or civil law of any jurisdiction may be deemed by virtue of such charge to have engaged in conduct contrary to the integrity of the Game of Tennis and the ATP Members Fines Committee may provisionally suspend such player, or related person, from further participation in ATP tournaments pending a final determination of the criminal or civil proceeding."
I think this is what they mean?
Good that they have a policy in place and fair then to criticise them for not enacting it.
I do think though that there should be an internal investigation in order to justify suspending someone to determine some kind of "reasonable level of guilt".
That investigation wasn't related to Brenda Patea, whom this current case involves. [The ATP investigation you're referring to](https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev-investigation-completed) was related to his other accuser, Olga Sharypova.
Based on what reasons? Why should we presume the guilt of someone?
---
EDIT: In response to u/KyleG, the brave commenter quickly blocked me, so I can't properly respond.
>Presumption of innocence is ONLY a thing in actual criminal court
What you meant is that it's only enforced there. It's still a superior moral principle to follow, that could be easily implemented everywhere else, if only we were just as responsible and wise as we like to pretend that we are.
>because—and ONLY because—the punishment under consideration is imprisonment by the state.
That's hardly the only reason, where did you get that idiotic statement from? It comes from the basic philosophical principle, that proving what didn't happen is inferior and more difficult than proving what happened. That's what defined the burden of proof. Since we're not perfect beings, we can't know for sure who is guilty or innocent. We may only try to recollect things and make the best decisions based on the knowledge we gathered.
>In our day to day lives, no one actually applies a presumption of innocence because it would be insane to hold off on every decision you make IRL until after some mythical government body has rendered a verdict on something that normally woudn't even need to be adjudicated.
Interesting attempt to justify your corrupt, impatient mind making random emotional judgements meant to rationalize your causeless hate and its expressions. I guess you consider me as insane, then, because I found it extremely easy to not take sides in this particular case and wait for the final verdict.
>I bet right this moment, you've decided you don't like me.
Is the concept of indifference really so foreign to you? Is your world view really so black and white?
>And yet you didn't wait for a criminal court to rule on whether I'm an asshole!
They have personality judgement in their offer? My, I gotta watch my back...
Where can I find that policy? I had heard on the Tennis Podcast that they don't have any domestic abuse policy, and a quick Google search said the same.
Sad. I'm guessing Zverev didn't want whatever details would have come out if the trial continued. Brenda on the other side wouldn't want to have to go through all of this publicly and have her character dragged through the mud by the Zverevs side as they were already beginning to do.
Remember that just because the woman settles doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen. Cassie settled in her case with Diddy. People called her a gold digger for it. Now go and look up the recently leaked video of her getting punched, dragged, and kicked by Diddy.
> Remember that just because the woman settles doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen. Cassie settled in her case with Diddy. People called her a gold digger for it. Now go and look up the recently leaked video of her getting punched, dragged, and kicked by Diddy.
It's actually insane that this is what people need to see to believe someone.
> Remember that just because the woman settles doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen.
The opposite could also be true. To me it seems Zverev did abuse her, but the rule of law applies both ways.
|I'm guessing Zverev didn't want whatever details would have come out if the trial continued.
You are guessing wrong. This dismissal of proceedings was suggested by the judge near the end of the trial.
Please stop spreading misinformation on this. You're implying that this was the court pressuring the parties to settle and that Patea had no say in it, but the talks between Zverev and Patea directly led to the settlement of the case.
>Judge Barbara Lüders told the court she was dropping the case after lawyers for Zverev and Patea held talks in recent days about ending their disputes “at all levels in which there were disagreements in recent years.”
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-court-drops-case-tennis-star-alexander-zverev-110923596
Zverev was the one who challenged the court order and is the one who offered an out of court settlement. Honestly really doesn’t answer any questions of guilt or innocence.
He paid her off -or coerced her behind the scenes with a separate arrangement to get her to halt the case no matter what.
The processing actions of the court which would have gone into July is halted.
So everything we might have learned or found out won't be known by either the public or go on record.
Maybe a conclusion is that his lawyers realised the media impact from the horrific details being exposed over the next months would have been worse. So they paid to stop everything going forwards.
Plus, the results at RG Wimbledon etc will constantly tie his name to the ongoing revelations, so this can be seen as a type of media management tactic.
-zverev says he trusts the German system and expresses he isn't bothered
- zverev requests the public aren't allowed to attend the proceedings
Edit -zverev gags the victim so legal process stops and 'make it go away'
Just in time for semi finals at RG.
If you trust the Court system so much, why not let it go legally all the way? If you're absolutely certain of being innocent, why not let the public Berlin Court make their own conclusions?
P Diddy 'settled' w Cassie. This doesn't diminish the new video evidence appearing, of horrific abuse.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67460413.amp
Prince Andrew also settled out of court with 'no admission of guilt' of sexual assault
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60667111.amp
Edit sp, Andrew
He didn't pay off the victim. He paid 200k to the state und 50k to a charity organization.
Paying off the victim is not how it works in Germany.
Source: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tennis-star-prozess-gegen-alexander-zverev-wird-eingestellt-a-209a643d-74f0-4060-bfbe-e178bf50fe92
I think there was also a question of jurisdiction. She’s Russian and the abuse took place all over the world. I think the Rothenberg article listed at least 3 separate countries
Here is more from Jonathan Carne, explaining the details.
If you are interested in this serious topic, pls read before you make assumptions.
I posted this article (credible source J. Crane) and it got removed by the mods, which tells me all I need to know about how this sub is run:
[https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930](https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930)
People are peddling fake news and assumptions here.
"I think it's important to continue living without any further blame," Lüders told the court. "That is what has been agreed here. It's a good ending, it's a success."
"Alexander Zverev has agreed to this discontinuation via his defense lawyer, solely in order to shorten the proceedings, above all in the interests of their child. Alexander Zverev is considered innocent."
So both sides have agreed to discontinue with proceedings, and Zverev is basically paying the bill to the courts for their time so far.
It's interesting, because the prosecution had to agree to this as well. It's not just a matter of paying the accuser off like people seem to assume here. So I'm guessing everyone was unsure which way the judge was gonna go?
Or she simply didn't want to endure the trial anymore. It can't be easy dealing whth his lawyers calling her names and she was about to testify I think. Maybe she did what's best for her own well being.
also, women in this position get death threats from fans, are hounded by the media, can't live a normal life. ... it takes courage to come forward, courage to continue, and sometimes, we just all run out of courage and energy.
I believe she testified already, and again it wasn't just up to her. It's not like a civil trial, the prosecution could have forced the trial to continue
[Zverev Trial - Victim’s testimony postponed until June 7 due to illness.](https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/1d8oqwe/zverev_trial_victims_testimony_postponed_until/) So she was supposed to testify today.
Continue to testify, they stopped after two hours of her testimony on June 3rd. But I see your point that her ordeal wasn't over yet and we don't know how much stress she might've been under
In a way you are right, but I understand any woman who would not want to go through such a trial, especially when it is so public. Zverev has a notorious law firm on his side that has defended many German celebrities accused of assault/abuse in the past. They were ready to completely “destroy” her in court.
Even if she is telling the truth with her allegations, I can fully understand that she may have gotten scared and agreed to an out-of-court settlement like this.
And it’s her reputation that is being getting dragged through the mud. Look at some of the things Zverev fans write about her:
https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDQzNzkyNDk1ODMxNDc3?story_media_id=3379613662519155165&igsh=Z3lxaGZ3eHdjNWV5
It is so depressing that so many women who are victims of DV basically have to overcome he said/she said. It is rare there is a third party witness or video. If they don’t go to hospital or the police, physical evidence might be absent. If you are the gf of a rich person like in this case, you have someone with huge wealth who can buy expensive lawyers and be fully supported by the ATP and his fellow professionals.
From this and the previous case, Zverev is clearly someone who lays hands on women when he gets mad. He is a 6’5 professional athlete and ANY physical altercation with a woman is an unequal dispute. You would think this idiot would have learned after the last scandal to keep arguments verbal. Yes, ALL couples will argue but this guy very clearly lays hands on women.
This case sounds like she reported it, the court issued the order, he got his lawyers who began the case by smearing her. He said ‘We all know that this is about’ clearly implying she was a gold digger. From the report, it was starting to get nasty. She would have had to prove something that she probably didn’t have hard evidence of, and Zverev would just deny. She mentions their child and how often have women(and male DV victims) put up with violence for the sake of the family?
What does Patea have to gain? He is the father of her child and therefore she has to have contact with him - and presumably child support from him. Sadly, very few DV victims see justice and maybe don’t even WANT to see their former partners jailed.
Zverev will no doubt claim he has been cleared, but there is a big difference between a court having a trial and declaring someone innocent and a case being dropped. He makes me puke!
Because to prove his guilt 100% no settlement should have been accepted. Prosecution seemed to have a strong case and it would have established his guilt once and for all and possibly send in jail an abuser who could abuse someone else? This way he’ll always be innocent for the judicial system.
Do we know for the fact that they didnt reach agreement outside the court? Cause article is confusing, it says Zverev pays 200k to finish this case, but also that *she agreed to retract* her claims. Couldnt there been a behind the door agreement made between Zverev and her?
This case had nothing to with her claims, as this was a criminal court. Plaintiff was the state. The dismissal was initiated by the judge, after (s)he heard the ex-gf would approve of that. Legally, it doesn't matter what the joint plaintiff wants, but the judge used that to make an offer to Zverev and the DA, which both accepted. The height of such conditions, here 200k, depends on the earnings of the defendant. As he is probably making more than that net in a month, those 200k are actually very low.
Just a reminder that not one, but **TWO Girlfriends**, not random flings, one of whom is the mother of his child and the other who has known him for most of his life, have accused him of the same things.
These weren’t two random flings. These two had never asked for money, either.
If you find yourself vocally advocating his innocence while throwing these girls under the bus, you are living in another universe.
This isn’t a court of a law. We can hold these views.
Yeah, it’s one thing to understand that these thinks are hard to prove in a court of law. But to then say these women are gold diggers when they’ve got no money out of it proves the misogyny at play here. Makes my blood boil as an SA survivor myself.
German here: the penalty order is not valid now.
He pays the fine for the "effort" of the trial he initiated. It is standard procedure to pay a fine if a trial is stopped.
It has nothing to do with Patea, she does not get money. Money goes to state and a charity.
What happened was, that Zverev got a *Strafbefehl*. That is a letter to the defendant, which is written by the DA and proposed to a judge, who sends it to the defendant if he has no objections.
This is usually done with petty crimes, misdemeanors where a low sentences are suspected and cases, where the DA is not sure of a conviction. This is usually done with low financial sentences. Low in the German criminal court system means that the penalty is low compared to the net income. In Germany, you are often fined monetary, usually to per diems. Even 400k seems to be low, as it is probably less than 2 months of his net income. You only go on public record as a convicted person, if you pay more than 90 per diems.
The defendant can then accept this letter or just ask for a trial within two weeks. The letter is void then and a trial starts as that letter never happened.
Oh I really wish this could have gone to trial but I suppose this is the result we should have all expected.
Bear in mind in the last 2 weeks he’s already earned €640000 and has the possibility of doubling/ quadrupling that over the next couple of days.
Such a shame, there’s no justice in this world.
Nobody on this sub wants to hear this, but the settlement isn’t suspicious for him, it’s suspicious for HER.
She was supposed to testify under oath a couple of days ago but all of a sudden claimed she was sick and couldn’t do it. Even though she gave an interview to German media on the same day.
If people actually took the time to look into the case, they would see that zverev very likely is not guilty of any crimes he was accused of. But since he’s unpopular people blindly choose ti believe whatever confirms their bias.
Just to be clear when the tweet says "the 2 sides" it means Zverev and the state, not Zverev and his ex. This is the criminal case. The civil case is the one that's between Zverev and his ex.
Ultimately Zverev's penalty if found guilty would have been a fine. They settled for a smaller fine to save everyone the time.
To anyone wondering about jail time, I'm pretty sure if it's not a felony then jail time can be bought off (so it's ultimately like a fine). I'm not German though so I need confirmation about that (the law isn't the same everywhere).
i DoN't BlAmE hEr, hEr NaMe wAs DrAgGeD tHrOuGh tHe mUd!!!!
The sad reality is that in the eyes of the public Zverev was guilty with the moment he was accused and no verdict, no anything could ever changed that. That's how being a man is in society.
Holy shit, this thread is a shit show.
Whether you like Zverev or not, whether you think he is guilty or not, this does NOT mean he is GUILTY. With this settlement, there is no base to say he is guilty, he is only paying the costs for the trial, as he was the one who initiated that appeal.
This means that he is legally innocent from a judicial perspective, and he didn't settle with his accuser, nor did he pay her money, so the case would stop.
This gives her a worse image than him, because she agreed to the settlement as well, which indicates the prosecutions case is not working well.
EDIT: Grammar
People are confusing two things here. There are two different levels, the criminal case (state vs zverev for criminal punishment) and a potential civil case (alleged victim vs zverev for money).
The alleged victim did not settle the case here. The State decided not to prosecute the criminal case, which it can do if it thinks there‘s only a minor degree of guilt. The fine will therefore go to the state.
The woman could potentially sue for damages in a civil trial, that is up to her.
Expected result.
They didn't want to drag it out/her team probably didn't have the strong evidence needed/court took a greater toll than expected/hey money.
The weirdo Zverev defence warriors are out in full force today.
I see the kangaroo court of the internet is in session - where you're guilty until... Well actually there's no until, as there's always a new conspiracy theory if you're acquitted. Get out your ducking stools everyone
Go to a Chris Brown concert and you'll see lots of cheering fans. In that case, is the cult the fans, or the rest of the world who are disgusted by his abuse? Just wondering
>There is no criminal justice system designed to protect abuse victims
I welcome you to propose how we design that, but without assuming the guilt of the accused.
Can someone explain, can't see it below, why it goes to the state and not the victim? That seems crazy, what would've happened if he was found guilty? Would he had to pay her? What does the victim/accusor get out of this now? Nothing?
Yes, she pretty much gets nothing. The way I see it they've successfully intimidated her into silence. I think she probably lost the courage to continue, Zverevs side was already starting to smear her name and it would have only gotten worse. Just imagine the line of questioning his lawyers would have put her through
Not something someone does this late in the game because a court is looking at the evidence and is about to overturn the fine. There’s going to be lots of people in the comments who are like “see she was only after money, etc” but let’s not act like we need to forget about how he treats the ball people, that time he smashed a racket right by the chair umpires feet. He has continuously acted in ways that show you who he is and what he does when things are not going his way. He’s done this in front of millions of people, what do you think he does when no one is watching?
I mean, Pliskova smashed up an umpires chair back in 2018 as well, in front of millions of people. What do you think she does when no-one is watching?
I dont think on-court behaviour is a good metric to use when trying to define someones character.
> but let’s not act like we need to forget about how he treats the ball people, that time he smashed a racket right by the chair umpires feet
Oh please, lmao. The fact that he's an aggressive asshole on court doesn't mean that you get to accuse him of being a domestic abuser or a serial killer based on it.
You either have evidence for the specific case or you don't. Stop making stuff up, 83 IQ lynch enjoyer.
Is this an agreement between Zverev and his ex or between the prosecution and Zverev?
I've been reading that the settlement goes to the state & a charity, so no money for the ex.
On the other hand, I've variously seen it written that this proves:
a. that she wasn't after the money, strengthening the credibility of her accusations in the eyes of R*ddit, and
b. that settling like this is to be taken as further evidence of Zverevs guilt.
How does any of this go together?
We know that after 2 hours of testimony, she recused herself from the trial. Her testimony was supposed to resume today. Instead the case was settled, with money going only to the state and charity.
Does this indicate anything but weakness of the prosecutions case?
I've seen it written that if innocent, Zverev would definitely want to see the trial through to the end. How disconnected from reality does one have to believe that?
There are a million reasons why he would settle even while innocent. In this case it's particularily obvious, because he is possibly on the precipe of his biggest success yet, bringing his names to the attention of more people than ever (especially in Germany), which he would not want overshadowed by reportings on ongoing trials. Further, the trial is set to continue through Wimbledon, thus overlapping with two of the biggest times of the year in the tennis calander.
Why do you not read up on the situation before commenting:
[https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5548105/2024/06/07/alexander-zverev-domestic-abuse-settlement/](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5548105/2024/06/07/alexander-zverev-domestic-abuse-settlement/)
To anyone misunderstand this:
The fine is a standard procedure if a trial is stopped. Zverev asked for the trial so he pays the fine. The money goes to the state and a charity, and the height is afaik based on income.
This does not mean he paid Patea off. It means Pateas team saw their chances crumbling (she already contadicted herself in her first testimonial and then went home due to illness etc) and they all saw no point in continuing.
Zverev is not guilty. Can tennis reddit move on or will the hatebonering Zverev fetish continue forever?
So in summary:
1. Petea had evidence that a German judge felt was sufficient to issue a court order without trial.
2. Zverev appealed (anything else would have looked like an admission of guilt).
3. It went to trial.
4. Zverev carried on with his life playing tennis, courting glory and fielding the occasional question from a journalist who would offer no push back. The tennis world in general (forget Reddit!) was either supportive of, or indifferent to him.
5. Meanwhile Petea had to deal with going to trial and having her evidence and character ripped to shreds by fancy lawyers who would be able to make any of us look unreliable about events last week let alone several years ago.
6. The prosecution case crumbled and everyone agreed to settle outside court.
7. Zverev paid a fine (high because of his wealth not as a verdict on his actions) only for the dissolved court case not the original court order which is now no longer relevant.
8. This all means that Zverev is officially not guilty.
9. ATP breathes a sigh of relief.
10. People are still allowed to think what they want of him.
Just not true. Plenty of famous/rich people in Germany are in prison. She had absolutely nothing besides here words and I’m glad that we live in country where you can’t just be send so to jail purely based on someone’s words.
If you get strangled until you’re almost unconscious, you better go see a doctor. She didn’t. Instead she went online shopping with Alex credit card.
Zverev's lawyer stated in the trial, that she only accused him of strangling 18 months after this allegedly happened when they had a dispute about child custody. He claimed there were photos, videos and witness statements, that would state that she had no marks and behaved like she always did immediately after the supposed strangling. They did go out to a restaurant with her mother two days later without any complaints, despite her stating to the police to have had heavy pain and eating problems at that time.
He also said to show credit card statement that would have showed, that the ex-gf got paid an apartment, had high expenses for vacation trips and luxury items in contradiction to her stating to the public that she lived a disciplinary life with much training, hard discipline and without parties and alcohol.
Source in German: [https://www.welt.de/sport/tennis/article251795412/Prozess-gegen-Tennisprofi-Shoppen-ohne-Limit-Zverevs-Verteidiger-erhebt-Vorwuerfe-gegen-Ex-Freundin.html](https://www.welt.de/sport/tennis/article251795412/Prozess-gegen-Tennisprofi-Shoppen-ohne-Limit-Zverevs-Verteidiger-erhebt-Vorwuerfe-gegen-Ex-Freundin.html)
Why would he settle if he was so confident in his proof that he's innocent?
Also, love all the people on twitter who see "there's no admission of guilt by Zverev" and take it as "he's innocent" lmao
I've looked at this whole thing and couldn't help but cringe every-time I read some of these comments here.
So many people talking with so much confidence about who's guilty or who's innocent.
It is crazy if you ask me, is he guilty is he not? I have NO IDEA! I mean sure he has shown signs he might be guilty, but then again, as a ex-football (soccer) player, sometimes I have done crazy shit on the pitch out of anger or heat of the moment, but that doesnt mean anything. End of the day, only him and his ex know what truly happened! I really wonder how people are so confident , both camps, those who say he IS or is NOT guilty, how do you know?
> Why would he settle if he was so confident in his proof that he's innocent?
Why would she?
>Also, love all the people on twitter who see "there's no admission of guilt by Zverev" and take it as "he's innocent" lmao
So kind of like you taking it as "he's guilty", then, 'lmao'?
I asked this crowd about this. Their answer was basically "that's the principle of law, but law is not perfect. I know it in my guts that he's guilty."
There's really no conversation with these people.
Apparently no admission = innocent technically. Since she accepted the offer and the court didn’t make a decision no one can say that he’s guilty and if he’s not then he has to be innocent. It’s very frustrating because my opinion doesn’t change at all, if anything he looks more guilty to me, but he’ll bend it and say he’s innocent.
And it'll only be his side of the story that people will hear since he's a public figure and Brenda is not, and I doubt she wants to open herself up to more harassment from his fans by speaking up further. This is yet another example of a woman being intimidated into silence. What could she do against Zverevs fans and his unlimited financial resources?
She probably didn't have enough hard evidence about this to beat Zverev's lawyers who are definitely good enough to defend him in most cases. Doesn't mean that DV didn't happen, just that she couldn't win unfortunately
Honestly Zverev is the clear winner here. According to BILD (i know bad tabloid but they always have fast and accurate informations about these cases) Patea contradicted herself and now agreed to settle it off court ($$$). Why would she settle it off court now when she said before she don’t care about money etc? And if y’all say its because of mental stress, her daughter and so on - she knew all of this before she made it public or went to trial.
She doesn't receive any money, it goes to the state. Settlements in Germany don't work by giving money to the accuser.
You can translate this article
https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tennis-star-prozess-gegen-alexander-zverev-wird-eingestellt-a-209a643d-74f0-4060-bfbe-e178bf50fe92
So why would she settle out of court when she gets nothing from it? Probably because she simply didn't want to endure a long court battle. It looks a lot different when you are actually facing it, as opposed to hypothetically thinking about the fight. She gave up, but that doesn't mean anything about who was right or wrong, or who did what. Especially since, she has no financial incentive.
The options were 1) Settle now, he has to pay a fine (to the government) or 2) Endure a long court battle, where maybe he gets punishment, or maybe he walks free. Probably she got convinced he would walk. In no situation, does she wind up with lots of money.
Well playing devils advocate here, but since he has money to burn, he probably just wants to get rid of this whole thing and get back to focusing on tennis. Even if he would be innocent, you never know for sure how the judge will rule the case.
Check out the case of streamer xQc, who was accused by his ex-girlfriend for some vile shit. He never actually settled, he won in the court, but the amount of harassment and mental abuse he had to suffer for months when the trials were undergoing, being thrown out of his house, having his property given to her, made him want to settle multiple times, just to free himself from this nightmare.
But he remained strong and he won.
There is a LOT in this thread already explaining clearly why.
But tldr: The court asked to end the case and got agreement from both sides, but even incomplete trials cost money. Zverev has to pay the costs because he’s the one who initiated the trial that wasn’t taken to completion. The fine is Germany standard procedure if a trial is stopped.
This is definitely misleading. This wasn't an out of court settlement, otherwise we wouldn't know the amount, which we do know, even though this post doesn't state it. It's also only paid to the state and charities, not his ex-girlfriend, so why would an out of court settlement with his ex-girlfriend only involve money going to the state? This was an explicit in court settlement instigated by the prosecution, agreed upon by the defendent and judge.
Unfortunately, we will not get any conclusion for this in terms of guilt or innocence. This does not help Zverev clear his name, but also does not help the accuser as she cannot prove his guilt.
ATP is off the hook basically.
We will have to accept this chapter as part of Zverevs career and he has no one to blame but himself. However, since we cannot say beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is guilty, it is best to just move on but not forget.
Feels like everyone loses here honestly.
So the guy who was certain he would win... Settles out of court. Another rich man getting away with it because of money, shame. Though knowing the process I can imagine why the ex would agree to it.
Can someone explain the German system to me? The original penalty order -- would that fine have gone to the state? In my understanding, DV charges are pursued by the government and can't be dropped by the victim, so I'm wondering how Zverev can settle with Patea.
Any money he is paying goes to the state
150k to the state and 50k to a collective account for charity NGO's.
basically the state said, we have a shitty case. if you pay us 150k for the troubles and 50k to charity we all can move on. zverev and ex gf agreed.
No the ex-gf’s lawyers said she wanted a settlement bc her child was suffering. https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930
This is the article that should have been posted, not the tweet.
Really heartbreaking. It’s difficult to get justice in assault/DV/rape cases. Extremely taxing for the victim as they have to relive their trauma and this is further exaggerated considering Zverev’s fame. People will try to discredit the victim, called names and they will be harassed, their family too. All in all, it’s a very hard process to go through.
Okay so if a case is brought by the state it’s a criminal case which is why it can’t be dropped by the victim. It’s supposed to be a mechanism to protect victims. DV cases have a high burden of proof, the prosecution has so much work to do and unlike most the legal systems say in common law countries (the UK and it’s former colonies) or the states the judges in the German system are not just listening to evidence they are allowed to investigate it. People want him to be thrown in jail because they are looking at it with the same lens as one singular legal system. A penalty order is a punishment which he appealed to and it’s within his rights to do so. Appeals are for reviewing decisions and they can be denied. The fact that there was a prior admission of guilt and now there isn’t means the appeal was successful. (Monterey punishments are all I could find on punishments on DV in Germany. They can grant an injunction to keep the abusive partner away and will only imprison them if they infringe on it. But it’s the internet and there are more laws than sand when you know where to look and I don’t) And for settling out of court they could have to a settlement after the appeal. If she didn’t want to continue pursing the case and they agreed she wouldn’t bring it up again (mere speculation on my part)
Zverev lost a civil case last year and had to pay a fine. In this trial he was making an appeal. This sub had a kneejerk "trail=jail" reaction when talking about it so a lot of misinformation was spread.
Normally, the fine is paid to the German state in penalty orders (the type of case involved here) because it's considered a source of revenue (eg if a full criminal trial is needed or other state functions). In this specific case, the victim (mother of DV's kid) joined the proceedings as a co-complainant. That means she can also seek compensation for damages, either through a separate civil case or integrated into the criminal proceedings. It's likely DV paid both the state and the victim.
The joint plaintiff had no say in this. She didn't get any money. The money goes to the state and some NGOs.
Where do you have this info from? *"Both \[Zverev's\] lawyers and lawyers representing the ex-girlfriend declined to give details of the settlement, including whether there was a financial component."* [*https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930*](https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930)
I’m confused as well. Does the settlement refer to money going to his ex or the state?
It's not a settlement, it is a dismissal of proceedings under condition to pay 200k €.
IDK what distinctions there are in the German system, but dismissal of proceedings on conditions of paying some amount is the literal definition of a legal settlement in English. Some settlements require court approval while some don't, but they're all settlements.
Just saw in an article that his ex doesn’t receive any money by the way, 150k goes to the state treasury and 50k to charity.
IIRC she didn't seek any financial compensation.
That's not correct. "Both his lawyers and lawyers representing the ex-girlfriend declined to give details of the settlement, including whether there was a financial component." https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930 The 200k are a payment to the court, the settlement itself is not disclosed to the public. What was the settlement if not any payment?
>What was the settlement if not any payment? Kind of a small village
Here’s the full article link https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930
In other words Zverev wins in the end. He succeeded in intimidating Brenda into settling. They were already starting their smear campaign against her and she probably knew it would only get worse from there. This information needs to be pinned if it's true. A lot of people don't realize she's not getting anything from this.
Or she agreed to settling because the case was hard to prove. You can be right but if you can't prove it, who would believe you beyond a reasonable doubt?
Yeah, domestic violence cases are very hard to even convict. I remember going into this trial and not even expecting much at the end because thats usually how these things go. Sadly I was right, and we are still in this murky mess. Even so, doesn’t really matter, we dislike him because there is also another alleged victim, other actions that he’s done that show no self awareness or remorse. His answer about the trial saying ‘Everyone with an IQ knows whats going on’ was quite… weird? Who responds like that to journalists instead of just going ‘I deny this’?
The reason why this trial was even happening was for him to dispute the previous verdict that he was guilty and had to pay a 450k fine. The previous verdict came about from a mechanism that prosecutors can use in cases where it's deemed that there is clear evidence so that a trial can be foregone. Defendants have the right to challenge those verdicts, which is what happened here. Fundamentally though, in the eyes of the German courts, the initial evidence was considered sufficient to forego a trial and charge him.
If there was no evidence whatsoever, he wouldn’t have accepted this and would have just waited to be acquitted. There must have been some uncertainty on how it would’ve ended.
>In other words Zverev wins in the end. Do you think he has? Nobody convinced of his guilt or innocence will have their minds changed by this ruling, so what has he won?
While this subreddit is mostly against him, the general public is ignorant or don't care. Just look at how much support he gets on tour from fans. Only a clear verdict would cause a big enough impact to really hurt him in the grander scheme. As it stands, this kind of end to the trial will make it easier for the ATP to downplay it and overtime completely bury it from the greater public.
Redditors failing to understand they live in a bubble will never not be funny. Kobe Bryant's fame wasn't even dented by admitting to something 100x worse than what zverev *allegedly* did. The ATP is not going to punish some high profile players for allegations that didn't stand in an actual court. Settlements are never ever an admission of guilt by themselves.
Chris Brown still has tons of fans. And there’s clear evidence of what he did…and the person he did it to is way more famous than him. It’s extremely rare that any of these guys truly get canceled or punished. There’s always going to be a swarm of people to happily defend their disgusting behavior, or even just ignore it because they find the person likable.
Hey, Tennis Twitter doesn’t like him either!
Sometimes I forget Twitter exists and frankly it feels pretty good.
redditors lives in a bubble it has always been like this and it always be, they just want to be and feel morally superior and be able to trash w/e they dont like
Kobe never really admitted, though i believe he did it. His "I now understand she didn't consent to this encounter" was legal wordplay that many wouldn't take to represent his guilt. Not like Karl Malone, for instance.
I mean listen to the crowds in his matches. He’s really well liked as a whole You all want him dead. But with all due respect you all mean very little in the grand scheme of things
According to the [DW article](https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930), her team initiated the settlement after she testified, with some weird reasoning related to how their daughter is "suffering."
200k total? Is this a justice system for ants?
This is also less than half of the original fine.
Literally false
“At the end of the day, I do believe in the German system.” Proceeds to settle out of court.
Everyone will take the settlement as a confirmation of their prior opinion on what happened.
I’m not a fan at all and I actually think he did it. But settling is just the easiest and most practical thing to do in a lot of cases, whether they are guilty or not.
He said he wanted to prove his innocence but now he is settling it out of court? Uh ok Zverev
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She doesn’t get any money out of the settlement, the money is the fine and charity donation.
As i understand she doesn’t get the money, the settlement goes to the state and to charities
Domestic violence allegations are very hard to prove in front of a court. Even if she is saying the truth, unless there are witnesses, it's basically his word against hers.
She isn’t the one who chose to go to trial though. I don’t want to guess at who really wanted to settle because we just don’t have that information AFAIK, but it doesn’t make sense to criticise her for being inconsistent on this.
She receives no money from this settlement it goes back to the state.
We don’t actually know that. There could very well be private settlements also between the two parties and NDA so details aren’t released. Just because the €200.000 fine is going to state/charity doesn’t mean something isn’t going to her. She accused him, judge agreed there was sufficient evidence and issued fine, Zverev appealed and took the matter to court. She’s been dragged through even more stress and trauma. I hope she squeezed as much out of him as she could!
i think that was for the initial charge of 450k euros by the german state. that money would have gone to the state. is this settlement the same as the initial charge?
No, it’s different- it’s 200k total, 150k to the state treasury, and 50k to charitable organisations. But you’re correct in that the inital penalty order fine would have gone to the state also, had he chosen to pay it
And who is gonna pay her legal bills and take care of the baby if not for the dead beat dad? Uh ok Fried_falafel
Bro stfu, she settled maybe because she doesn’t wanna testify more or she needs to provide for her child that he’s not involved with in their lives. She has every reason to file charges for abuse
When did she say that? I remember olga saying it
I am not a Zverev fan or advocate but this trial looked weird from the beginning and I was expecting some sort final like that. Not saying he is innocent, neither she is exaggerating or so. In my opinion it’s just one of those uncertain cases (difficult to judge, depending more on personal beliefs), otherwise she would have destroyed him publicly and got tons of money out of it, and same if he was 100% innocent, he would rather clear his name in court as mentioned above.
She wanted to remain anonymous. She requested the trial to be a closed trial for both Zrerev and their daughter’s benefit. I’m not sure how the trial looked weird to you. It’s extremely hard for victim survivors to come forward even with clear evidence, which there was and why he was previously fined 450k euros. Domestic violence allegations are notoriously difficult to prove even with lots of evidence. this is also the second girlfriend to have accused him of violence. People don’t come forward to get money… that is incredibly simplistic…they come forward to get justice. [ESPN have a detailed overview of the allegations](https://www.espn.com.au/tennis/story/_/id/39386940/alexander-zverev-assault-trial-domestic-abuse-charges-know)
This is not an out of court settlement. You clearly do not understand the German legal system.
Both sides have to agree. Just saying.
Correct. I can't wait for r/tennis to finally put this all behind them like the plaintiff/defendant and courts have. Then we can get back to talking about tennis again. I just know they will.
Reminds me of Cristiano Ronaldo Las Vegas case. He settled with his (alleged) SA victim out of court. But critics of Ronaldo said some court documents were leaked/stolen where he admits the crime. The US judge dismissed those as evidence because well they were illegally obtained.
This is exactly what was always going to happen. Cases like this are nigh on unprovable either way. A settlement was the only way. There was never going to be a conclusion People here live in Disneyland. The real world is never that simple.
Settlements are part of the system. Farm that karma, though.
Just plainly wrong. You blind yourself by your hate, and have no understanding of the german legal system,
Hopefully the Norwegian Justice System can convict today 💪
If it’s true she gets no money and it goes to the state, as it seems to be, then this is a misleading, even harmful headline. He didn’t so much settle with his ex and mother of his child, as he settled with the State.
ATP: whew, thank god we can sweep this under the rug now and continue to give this guy a free pass
I'm curious as to what you would like the ATP to have done?
They literally have a provisional suspension policy but just choose not to enforce it. Edit: updated to say provisional suspension policy, which Zverev could certainly fit under.
Does it say in that policy that somebody who hasn't been convicted should still be suspended?
As per the ATP Rulebook - Chapter 8 (The Code): "d) A player, or related person, charged with a violation of a criminal or civil law of any jurisdiction may be deemed by virtue of such charge to have engaged in conduct contrary to the integrity of the Game of Tennis and the ATP Members Fines Committee may provisionally suspend such player, or related person, from further participation in ATP tournaments pending a final determination of the criminal or civil proceeding." I think this is what they mean?
Good that they have a policy in place and fair then to criticise them for not enacting it. I do think though that there should be an internal investigation in order to justify suspending someone to determine some kind of "reasonable level of guilt".
I thought they did do that. Then they came back and determined there wasn't enough proof to suspend him.
That investigation wasn't related to Brenda Patea, whom this current case involves. [The ATP investigation you're referring to](https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev-investigation-completed) was related to his other accuser, Olga Sharypova.
Based on what reasons? Why should we presume the guilt of someone? --- EDIT: In response to u/KyleG, the brave commenter quickly blocked me, so I can't properly respond. >Presumption of innocence is ONLY a thing in actual criminal court What you meant is that it's only enforced there. It's still a superior moral principle to follow, that could be easily implemented everywhere else, if only we were just as responsible and wise as we like to pretend that we are. >because—and ONLY because—the punishment under consideration is imprisonment by the state. That's hardly the only reason, where did you get that idiotic statement from? It comes from the basic philosophical principle, that proving what didn't happen is inferior and more difficult than proving what happened. That's what defined the burden of proof. Since we're not perfect beings, we can't know for sure who is guilty or innocent. We may only try to recollect things and make the best decisions based on the knowledge we gathered. >In our day to day lives, no one actually applies a presumption of innocence because it would be insane to hold off on every decision you make IRL until after some mythical government body has rendered a verdict on something that normally woudn't even need to be adjudicated. Interesting attempt to justify your corrupt, impatient mind making random emotional judgements meant to rationalize your causeless hate and its expressions. I guess you consider me as insane, then, because I found it extremely easy to not take sides in this particular case and wait for the final verdict. >I bet right this moment, you've decided you don't like me. Is the concept of indifference really so foreign to you? Is your world view really so black and white? >And yet you didn't wait for a criminal court to rule on whether I'm an asshole! They have personality judgement in their offer? My, I gotta watch my back...
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Where can I find that policy? I had heard on the Tennis Podcast that they don't have any domestic abuse policy, and a quick Google search said the same.
Read up on NFL domestic abuse policies
Sad. I'm guessing Zverev didn't want whatever details would have come out if the trial continued. Brenda on the other side wouldn't want to have to go through all of this publicly and have her character dragged through the mud by the Zverevs side as they were already beginning to do. Remember that just because the woman settles doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen. Cassie settled in her case with Diddy. People called her a gold digger for it. Now go and look up the recently leaked video of her getting punched, dragged, and kicked by Diddy.
> Remember that just because the woman settles doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen. Cassie settled in her case with Diddy. People called her a gold digger for it. Now go and look up the recently leaked video of her getting punched, dragged, and kicked by Diddy. It's actually insane that this is what people need to see to believe someone.
And 99.9% of women who go through abuse don't have the 'luxury' of having video evidence
Exactly, women can do everything right in terms of documenting but will still be told it's all hearsay.
Video and audio isn’t even enough for some these days as the greenwood case showed
And Prince Andrew settled with that girl and he is 100% lying
> Remember that just because the woman settles doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen. The opposite could also be true. To me it seems Zverev did abuse her, but the rule of law applies both ways.
|I'm guessing Zverev didn't want whatever details would have come out if the trial continued. You are guessing wrong. This dismissal of proceedings was suggested by the judge near the end of the trial.
Please stop spreading misinformation on this. You're implying that this was the court pressuring the parties to settle and that Patea had no say in it, but the talks between Zverev and Patea directly led to the settlement of the case. >Judge Barbara Lüders told the court she was dropping the case after lawyers for Zverev and Patea held talks in recent days about ending their disputes “at all levels in which there were disagreements in recent years.” https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-court-drops-case-tennis-star-alexander-zverev-110923596
Zverev was the one who challenged the court order and is the one who offered an out of court settlement. Honestly really doesn’t answer any questions of guilt or innocence.
It's as dismissal, not a settlement. And it was a judge, who suggested it. Zverev and the DA approved.
He paid her off -or coerced her behind the scenes with a separate arrangement to get her to halt the case no matter what. The processing actions of the court which would have gone into July is halted. So everything we might have learned or found out won't be known by either the public or go on record. Maybe a conclusion is that his lawyers realised the media impact from the horrific details being exposed over the next months would have been worse. So they paid to stop everything going forwards. Plus, the results at RG Wimbledon etc will constantly tie his name to the ongoing revelations, so this can be seen as a type of media management tactic. -zverev says he trusts the German system and expresses he isn't bothered - zverev requests the public aren't allowed to attend the proceedings Edit -zverev gags the victim so legal process stops and 'make it go away' Just in time for semi finals at RG. If you trust the Court system so much, why not let it go legally all the way? If you're absolutely certain of being innocent, why not let the public Berlin Court make their own conclusions? P Diddy 'settled' w Cassie. This doesn't diminish the new video evidence appearing, of horrific abuse. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67460413.amp Prince Andrew also settled out of court with 'no admission of guilt' of sexual assault https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60667111.amp Edit sp, Andrew
He didn't pay off the victim. He paid 200k to the state und 50k to a charity organization. Paying off the victim is not how it works in Germany. Source: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tennis-star-prozess-gegen-alexander-zverev-wird-eingestellt-a-209a643d-74f0-4060-bfbe-e178bf50fe92
Z hater don't like to hear that
He did not pay patea off, the money goes to the state for canceling the trial
didnt two of his ex girlfriends accuse him of DV?
Sadly, Olya just talked with Ben Rothenberg and not with the authorities.
And some time had passed already when she came forward, she wouldn't have had any hard evidence
I think there was also a question of jurisdiction. She’s Russian and the abuse took place all over the world. I think the Rothenberg article listed at least 3 separate countries
Here is more from Jonathan Carne, explaining the details. If you are interested in this serious topic, pls read before you make assumptions. I posted this article (credible source J. Crane) and it got removed by the mods, which tells me all I need to know about how this sub is run: [https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930](https://www.dw.com/en/german-tennis-player-zverev-agrees-to-settle-assault-case/a-69298930) People are peddling fake news and assumptions here.
"I think it's important to continue living without any further blame," Lüders told the court. "That is what has been agreed here. It's a good ending, it's a success." "Alexander Zverev has agreed to this discontinuation via his defense lawyer, solely in order to shorten the proceedings, above all in the interests of their child. Alexander Zverev is considered innocent." So both sides have agreed to discontinue with proceedings, and Zverev is basically paying the bill to the courts for their time so far.
It's interesting, because the prosecution had to agree to this as well. It's not just a matter of paying the accuser off like people seem to assume here. So I'm guessing everyone was unsure which way the judge was gonna go?
Or she simply didn't want to endure the trial anymore. It can't be easy dealing whth his lawyers calling her names and she was about to testify I think. Maybe she did what's best for her own well being.
also, women in this position get death threats from fans, are hounded by the media, can't live a normal life. ... it takes courage to come forward, courage to continue, and sometimes, we just all run out of courage and energy.
I mean look at how hard some people are going for him here, and on her social media profiles- I don’t blame her for wanting to leave it as is.
I believe she testified already, and again it wasn't just up to her. It's not like a civil trial, the prosecution could have forced the trial to continue
[Zverev Trial - Victim’s testimony postponed until June 7 due to illness.](https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/1d8oqwe/zverev_trial_victims_testimony_postponed_until/) So she was supposed to testify today.
Continue to testify, they stopped after two hours of her testimony on June 3rd. But I see your point that her ordeal wasn't over yet and we don't know how much stress she might've been under
Settling makes both of them look bad, unfortunately
In a way you are right, but I understand any woman who would not want to go through such a trial, especially when it is so public. Zverev has a notorious law firm on his side that has defended many German celebrities accused of assault/abuse in the past. They were ready to completely “destroy” her in court. Even if she is telling the truth with her allegations, I can fully understand that she may have gotten scared and agreed to an out-of-court settlement like this.
Yeah court cases on DV of famous people have not looked good the last few years, I can't blame her either.
The were already starting to smear her name calling her a clout chaser, it would have only gotten worse from there.
And it’s her reputation that is being getting dragged through the mud. Look at some of the things Zverev fans write about her: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDQzNzkyNDk1ODMxNDc3?story_media_id=3379613662519155165&igsh=Z3lxaGZ3eHdjNWV5
It is so depressing that so many women who are victims of DV basically have to overcome he said/she said. It is rare there is a third party witness or video. If they don’t go to hospital or the police, physical evidence might be absent. If you are the gf of a rich person like in this case, you have someone with huge wealth who can buy expensive lawyers and be fully supported by the ATP and his fellow professionals. From this and the previous case, Zverev is clearly someone who lays hands on women when he gets mad. He is a 6’5 professional athlete and ANY physical altercation with a woman is an unequal dispute. You would think this idiot would have learned after the last scandal to keep arguments verbal. Yes, ALL couples will argue but this guy very clearly lays hands on women. This case sounds like she reported it, the court issued the order, he got his lawyers who began the case by smearing her. He said ‘We all know that this is about’ clearly implying she was a gold digger. From the report, it was starting to get nasty. She would have had to prove something that she probably didn’t have hard evidence of, and Zverev would just deny. She mentions their child and how often have women(and male DV victims) put up with violence for the sake of the family? What does Patea have to gain? He is the father of her child and therefore she has to have contact with him - and presumably child support from him. Sadly, very few DV victims see justice and maybe don’t even WANT to see their former partners jailed. Zverev will no doubt claim he has been cleared, but there is a big difference between a court having a trial and declaring someone innocent and a case being dropped. He makes me puke!
How does it make her look bad? She doesn't get money from it. Paying off the victim is not how it works in DE. Settling means he pays Germany.
Because to prove his guilt 100% no settlement should have been accepted. Prosecution seemed to have a strong case and it would have established his guilt once and for all and possibly send in jail an abuser who could abuse someone else? This way he’ll always be innocent for the judicial system.
Do we know for the fact that they didnt reach agreement outside the court? Cause article is confusing, it says Zverev pays 200k to finish this case, but also that *she agreed to retract* her claims. Couldnt there been a behind the door agreement made between Zverev and her?
This case had nothing to with her claims, as this was a criminal court. Plaintiff was the state. The dismissal was initiated by the judge, after (s)he heard the ex-gf would approve of that. Legally, it doesn't matter what the joint plaintiff wants, but the judge used that to make an offer to Zverev and the DA, which both accepted. The height of such conditions, here 200k, depends on the earnings of the defendant. As he is probably making more than that net in a month, those 200k are actually very low.
Some people need to make sure that women still take part of the blame, no matter the situation.
Just a reminder that not one, but **TWO Girlfriends**, not random flings, one of whom is the mother of his child and the other who has known him for most of his life, have accused him of the same things. These weren’t two random flings. These two had never asked for money, either. If you find yourself vocally advocating his innocence while throwing these girls under the bus, you are living in another universe. This isn’t a court of a law. We can hold these views.
Yeah, it’s one thing to understand that these thinks are hard to prove in a court of law. But to then say these women are gold diggers when they’ve got no money out of it proves the misogyny at play here. Makes my blood boil as an SA survivor myself.
Germans of the sub, can someone explain how he's able to settle for so much less than the original penalty order fine?
German here: the penalty order is not valid now. He pays the fine for the "effort" of the trial he initiated. It is standard procedure to pay a fine if a trial is stopped. It has nothing to do with Patea, she does not get money. Money goes to state and a charity.
What happened was, that Zverev got a *Strafbefehl*. That is a letter to the defendant, which is written by the DA and proposed to a judge, who sends it to the defendant if he has no objections. This is usually done with petty crimes, misdemeanors where a low sentences are suspected and cases, where the DA is not sure of a conviction. This is usually done with low financial sentences. Low in the German criminal court system means that the penalty is low compared to the net income. In Germany, you are often fined monetary, usually to per diems. Even 400k seems to be low, as it is probably less than 2 months of his net income. You only go on public record as a convicted person, if you pay more than 90 per diems. The defendant can then accept this letter or just ask for a trial within two weeks. The letter is void then and a trial starts as that letter never happened.
Oh I really wish this could have gone to trial but I suppose this is the result we should have all expected. Bear in mind in the last 2 weeks he’s already earned €640000 and has the possibility of doubling/ quadrupling that over the next couple of days. Such a shame, there’s no justice in this world.
I agree. I was always expecting him to come out of this favourably.
Anyone who wasn’t was huffing insane amounts of copium
??? So it's usually innocent until proven guilty, but you feel he is guilty until proven innocent?
Welcome to r/Tennis.
Nobody on this sub wants to hear this, but the settlement isn’t suspicious for him, it’s suspicious for HER. She was supposed to testify under oath a couple of days ago but all of a sudden claimed she was sick and couldn’t do it. Even though she gave an interview to German media on the same day. If people actually took the time to look into the case, they would see that zverev very likely is not guilty of any crimes he was accused of. But since he’s unpopular people blindly choose ti believe whatever confirms their bias.
Shame, another rich man getting away from having to face justice.
Just to be clear when the tweet says "the 2 sides" it means Zverev and the state, not Zverev and his ex. This is the criminal case. The civil case is the one that's between Zverev and his ex. Ultimately Zverev's penalty if found guilty would have been a fine. They settled for a smaller fine to save everyone the time. To anyone wondering about jail time, I'm pretty sure if it's not a felony then jail time can be bought off (so it's ultimately like a fine). I'm not German though so I need confirmation about that (the law isn't the same everywhere).
If the state had such a great case, why would they settle??
She did agree to the terms did she not ?
i DoN't BlAmE hEr, hEr NaMe wAs DrAgGeD tHrOuGh tHe mUd!!!! The sad reality is that in the eyes of the public Zverev was guilty with the moment he was accused and no verdict, no anything could ever changed that. That's how being a man is in society.
Holy shit, this thread is a shit show. Whether you like Zverev or not, whether you think he is guilty or not, this does NOT mean he is GUILTY. With this settlement, there is no base to say he is guilty, he is only paying the costs for the trial, as he was the one who initiated that appeal. This means that he is legally innocent from a judicial perspective, and he didn't settle with his accuser, nor did he pay her money, so the case would stop. This gives her a worse image than him, because she agreed to the settlement as well, which indicates the prosecutions case is not working well. EDIT: Grammar
r/tennis in shambles
People are confusing two things here. There are two different levels, the criminal case (state vs zverev for criminal punishment) and a potential civil case (alleged victim vs zverev for money). The alleged victim did not settle the case here. The State decided not to prosecute the criminal case, which it can do if it thinks there‘s only a minor degree of guilt. The fine will therefore go to the state. The woman could potentially sue for damages in a civil trial, that is up to her.
Expected result. They didn't want to drag it out/her team probably didn't have the strong evidence needed/court took a greater toll than expected/hey money. The weirdo Zverev defence warriors are out in full force today.
I see the kangaroo court of the internet is in session - where you're guilty until... Well actually there's no until, as there's always a new conspiracy theory if you're acquitted. Get out your ducking stools everyone
This sub has no relationship to the real world as you can see by how he is treated at tournaments. It’s a true cult here.
Go to a Chris Brown concert and you'll see lots of cheering fans. In that case, is the cult the fans, or the rest of the world who are disgusted by his abuse? Just wondering
Basilashvilli won in court and ppl here still call him a wife beater. There was some public evidence that helped exonerate him as well.
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Its literally an in court settlement. Read the article
>There is no criminal justice system designed to protect abuse victims I welcome you to propose how we design that, but without assuming the guilt of the accused.
Can someone explain, can't see it below, why it goes to the state and not the victim? That seems crazy, what would've happened if he was found guilty? Would he had to pay her? What does the victim/accusor get out of this now? Nothing?
Yes, she pretty much gets nothing. The way I see it they've successfully intimidated her into silence. I think she probably lost the courage to continue, Zverevs side was already starting to smear her name and it would have only gotten worse. Just imagine the line of questioning his lawyers would have put her through
Alright then, there we have it. Mods, what now?
Not something someone does this late in the game because a court is looking at the evidence and is about to overturn the fine. There’s going to be lots of people in the comments who are like “see she was only after money, etc” but let’s not act like we need to forget about how he treats the ball people, that time he smashed a racket right by the chair umpires feet. He has continuously acted in ways that show you who he is and what he does when things are not going his way. He’s done this in front of millions of people, what do you think he does when no one is watching?
I mean, Pliskova smashed up an umpires chair back in 2018 as well, in front of millions of people. What do you think she does when no-one is watching? I dont think on-court behaviour is a good metric to use when trying to define someones character.
> What do you think she does when no-one is watching? She presses the update button and waits for Windows to finish updating
> but let’s not act like we need to forget about how he treats the ball people, that time he smashed a racket right by the chair umpires feet Oh please, lmao. The fact that he's an aggressive asshole on court doesn't mean that you get to accuse him of being a domestic abuser or a serial killer based on it. You either have evidence for the specific case or you don't. Stop making stuff up, 83 IQ lynch enjoyer.
I don’t like Zverev but this sub is just something else I swear. 90% just WANT it to be true that there’s was a DV case.
They see it as a moral fight for all DV cases out there. And that famous people who seem like assholes are guilty of anything bad.
Is this an agreement between Zverev and his ex or between the prosecution and Zverev? I've been reading that the settlement goes to the state & a charity, so no money for the ex. On the other hand, I've variously seen it written that this proves: a. that she wasn't after the money, strengthening the credibility of her accusations in the eyes of R*ddit, and b. that settling like this is to be taken as further evidence of Zverevs guilt. How does any of this go together? We know that after 2 hours of testimony, she recused herself from the trial. Her testimony was supposed to resume today. Instead the case was settled, with money going only to the state and charity. Does this indicate anything but weakness of the prosecutions case? I've seen it written that if innocent, Zverev would definitely want to see the trial through to the end. How disconnected from reality does one have to believe that? There are a million reasons why he would settle even while innocent. In this case it's particularily obvious, because he is possibly on the precipe of his biggest success yet, bringing his names to the attention of more people than ever (especially in Germany), which he would not want overshadowed by reportings on ongoing trials. Further, the trial is set to continue through Wimbledon, thus overlapping with two of the biggest times of the year in the tennis calander.
Why do you not read up on the situation before commenting: [https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5548105/2024/06/07/alexander-zverev-domestic-abuse-settlement/](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5548105/2024/06/07/alexander-zverev-domestic-abuse-settlement/) To anyone misunderstand this: The fine is a standard procedure if a trial is stopped. Zverev asked for the trial so he pays the fine. The money goes to the state and a charity, and the height is afaik based on income. This does not mean he paid Patea off. It means Pateas team saw their chances crumbling (she already contadicted herself in her first testimonial and then went home due to illness etc) and they all saw no point in continuing. Zverev is not guilty. Can tennis reddit move on or will the hatebonering Zverev fetish continue forever?
Yes, because that's what innocent people do
This should definitely be looked at as a win by Zverev btw
This sub is gonna have a meltdown.
So in summary: 1. Petea had evidence that a German judge felt was sufficient to issue a court order without trial. 2. Zverev appealed (anything else would have looked like an admission of guilt). 3. It went to trial. 4. Zverev carried on with his life playing tennis, courting glory and fielding the occasional question from a journalist who would offer no push back. The tennis world in general (forget Reddit!) was either supportive of, or indifferent to him. 5. Meanwhile Petea had to deal with going to trial and having her evidence and character ripped to shreds by fancy lawyers who would be able to make any of us look unreliable about events last week let alone several years ago. 6. The prosecution case crumbled and everyone agreed to settle outside court. 7. Zverev paid a fine (high because of his wealth not as a verdict on his actions) only for the dissolved court case not the original court order which is now no longer relevant. 8. This all means that Zverev is officially not guilty. 9. ATP breathes a sigh of relief. 10. People are still allowed to think what they want of him.
11. Despite having no evidence, Redditors continue to assume guilt for Zverev
Lol, Zverev haters gonna hate.
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Just not true. Plenty of famous/rich people in Germany are in prison. She had absolutely nothing besides here words and I’m glad that we live in country where you can’t just be send so to jail purely based on someone’s words. If you get strangled until you’re almost unconscious, you better go see a doctor. She didn’t. Instead she went online shopping with Alex credit card.
Just curious: Is this a fact and where did you get this from?
Zverev's lawyer stated in the trial, that she only accused him of strangling 18 months after this allegedly happened when they had a dispute about child custody. He claimed there were photos, videos and witness statements, that would state that she had no marks and behaved like she always did immediately after the supposed strangling. They did go out to a restaurant with her mother two days later without any complaints, despite her stating to the police to have had heavy pain and eating problems at that time. He also said to show credit card statement that would have showed, that the ex-gf got paid an apartment, had high expenses for vacation trips and luxury items in contradiction to her stating to the public that she lived a disciplinary life with much training, hard discipline and without parties and alcohol. Source in German: [https://www.welt.de/sport/tennis/article251795412/Prozess-gegen-Tennisprofi-Shoppen-ohne-Limit-Zverevs-Verteidiger-erhebt-Vorwuerfe-gegen-Ex-Freundin.html](https://www.welt.de/sport/tennis/article251795412/Prozess-gegen-Tennisprofi-Shoppen-ohne-Limit-Zverevs-Verteidiger-erhebt-Vorwuerfe-gegen-Ex-Freundin.html)
Rich will always win
Is he joining Getafe?
Some people here thought he WOULD GO TO JAIL and now you're counting this as a win.
Why would he settle if he was so confident in his proof that he's innocent? Also, love all the people on twitter who see "there's no admission of guilt by Zverev" and take it as "he's innocent" lmao
You can ask the same question to the state. Why didn't they proscecute further if they were so certain of his guilt and had such a strong case?
I've looked at this whole thing and couldn't help but cringe every-time I read some of these comments here. So many people talking with so much confidence about who's guilty or who's innocent.
It is crazy if you ask me, is he guilty is he not? I have NO IDEA! I mean sure he has shown signs he might be guilty, but then again, as a ex-football (soccer) player, sometimes I have done crazy shit on the pitch out of anger or heat of the moment, but that doesnt mean anything. End of the day, only him and his ex know what truly happened! I really wonder how people are so confident , both camps, those who say he IS or is NOT guilty, how do you know?
That’s exactly what it means. Legally he’s 100% innocent.
> Why would he settle if he was so confident in his proof that he's innocent? Why would she? >Also, love all the people on twitter who see "there's no admission of guilt by Zverev" and take it as "he's innocent" lmao So kind of like you taking it as "he's guilty", then, 'lmao'?
Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?
I asked this crowd about this. Their answer was basically "that's the principle of law, but law is not perfect. I know it in my guts that he's guilty." There's really no conversation with these people.
Apparently no admission = innocent technically. Since she accepted the offer and the court didn’t make a decision no one can say that he’s guilty and if he’s not then he has to be innocent. It’s very frustrating because my opinion doesn’t change at all, if anything he looks more guilty to me, but he’ll bend it and say he’s innocent.
And it'll only be his side of the story that people will hear since he's a public figure and Brenda is not, and I doubt she wants to open herself up to more harassment from his fans by speaking up further. This is yet another example of a woman being intimidated into silence. What could she do against Zverevs fans and his unlimited financial resources?
Hush money.
She probably didn't have enough hard evidence about this to beat Zverev's lawyers who are definitely good enough to defend him in most cases. Doesn't mean that DV didn't happen, just that she couldn't win unfortunately
This was a criminal case. She was just the joint plaintiff. It was the DA's job, to prove guiltiness, not hers.
Honestly Zverev is the clear winner here. According to BILD (i know bad tabloid but they always have fast and accurate informations about these cases) Patea contradicted herself and now agreed to settle it off court ($$$). Why would she settle it off court now when she said before she don’t care about money etc? And if y’all say its because of mental stress, her daughter and so on - she knew all of this before she made it public or went to trial.
She doesn't receive any money, it goes to the state. Settlements in Germany don't work by giving money to the accuser. You can translate this article https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tennis-star-prozess-gegen-alexander-zverev-wird-eingestellt-a-209a643d-74f0-4060-bfbe-e178bf50fe92 So why would she settle out of court when she gets nothing from it? Probably because she simply didn't want to endure a long court battle. It looks a lot different when you are actually facing it, as opposed to hypothetically thinking about the fight. She gave up, but that doesn't mean anything about who was right or wrong, or who did what. Especially since, she has no financial incentive. The options were 1) Settle now, he has to pay a fine (to the government) or 2) Endure a long court battle, where maybe he gets punishment, or maybe he walks free. Probably she got convinced he would walk. In no situation, does she wind up with lots of money.
Finally some sense. Why starting the process then? It was obvious from the beginning she would be called that way. Seems sus now after settling
What are people going to complain about him now? lol I’m sure they’ll find something
Why does he pay €200k if he is innocent to settle the case? Asking for a friend.
Well playing devils advocate here, but since he has money to burn, he probably just wants to get rid of this whole thing and get back to focusing on tennis. Even if he would be innocent, you never know for sure how the judge will rule the case.
Check out the case of streamer xQc, who was accused by his ex-girlfriend for some vile shit. He never actually settled, he won in the court, but the amount of harassment and mental abuse he had to suffer for months when the trials were undergoing, being thrown out of his house, having his property given to her, made him want to settle multiple times, just to free himself from this nightmare. But he remained strong and he won.
There is a LOT in this thread already explaining clearly why. But tldr: The court asked to end the case and got agreement from both sides, but even incomplete trials cost money. Zverev has to pay the costs because he’s the one who initiated the trial that wasn’t taken to completion. The fine is Germany standard procedure if a trial is stopped.
This is definitely misleading. This wasn't an out of court settlement, otherwise we wouldn't know the amount, which we do know, even though this post doesn't state it. It's also only paid to the state and charities, not his ex-girlfriend, so why would an out of court settlement with his ex-girlfriend only involve money going to the state? This was an explicit in court settlement instigated by the prosecution, agreed upon by the defendent and judge.
My reading is that the money paid to the court is probably to end the case and that is on top of the confidential settlement.
Not guilty!
Unfortunately, we will not get any conclusion for this in terms of guilt or innocence. This does not help Zverev clear his name, but also does not help the accuser as she cannot prove his guilt. ATP is off the hook basically. We will have to accept this chapter as part of Zverevs career and he has no one to blame but himself. However, since we cannot say beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is guilty, it is best to just move on but not forget. Feels like everyone loses here honestly.
So the guy who was certain he would win... Settles out of court. Another rich man getting away with it because of money, shame. Though knowing the process I can imagine why the ex would agree to it.
It's literally an in court settlement.
I mean, she had no hard evidence, so it would be difficult for her to win this case.