Raul Asencio has been acquitted by a Spanish court after prosecutors withdrew all charges against the Real Madrid defender in a case involving the alleged distribution of an intimate video of a minor.
The 23-year-old was tried in Las Palmas alongside three former Real Madrid youth-team players, Andres Garcia, Ferran Ruiz and Juan Rodriguez. The court confirmed on Thursday that the proceedings against Asencio had ended with an acquittal and that the ruling was final.
The case concerned footage of a sexual encounter at a beach club in the Canary Islands in June 2023. Asencio was not accused of taking part in the encounter or filming it. The allegation against him was that he had asked for the video and shown it to another person.
The other three defendants were found guilty of recording and distributing sexual material involving a person under 16 and of offences involving an 18-year-old woman.
They each received a one-year prison sentence, suspended on condition that they do not reoffend during that period. They were also given two-year restraining orders and banned from professions involving minors for three years.
A statement from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria court said: “After hearing the victims confirm that they forgave the defendants and the report from the representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office withdrawing the charges against one of them and reducing the sentence sought for the other three, the judge handed down a verdict by consent in accordance with the prosecutor’s report.”
The court added that Asencio, “against whom the prosecutor had withdrawn all charges, has been acquitted and is free to go.”
The case had previously carried the possibility of a prison sentence for Asencio. Prosecutors had sought two and a half years in prison for the defender and longer terms for Garcia, Ruiz and Rodriguez.
Asencio consistently denied wrongdoing. In a statement issued in May 2025, he said: “I have not participated in any behaviour that violated the sexual freedom of any woman, much less of minors.”
He added: “In the event that charges are finally brought and an oral trial is opened, I will continue to exercise my defence before the Courts and Tribunals, in which I maintain full confidence, reaffirming that I am not involved in any criminal conduct.”
The acquittal comes a day after Asencio was convicted in a separate case of driving under the influence of alcohol. He admitted the offence and was fined €14,400, with his driving licence suspended for eight months.
Real Madrid have opened disciplinary proceedings on Asencio over the conviction. Jose Mourinho said on Thursday that the 23-year-old remained a Real Madrid player while the process was under way.
“While the proceeding is open I see him as a Real Madrid player,” Mourinho said. “He’s injured and will continue to be sidelined for a couple of weeks. That helps me not to have to deal with this problem now.”
Mourinho added: “A Real Madrid player is a Real Madrid player 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 12 months a year. Everything you do off the field is still about Real Madrid. It still damages the prestige of a club that is untouchable.”
Asencio, who was born in Las Palmas, has made 80 appearances for Real Madrid and has been called up by Spain without making his senior international debut. He has yet to play this season because of a muscle injury.
