Of the many questions surrounding the suspension, investigation and reinstatement of Cecilio Domínguez, one fairly obvious mystery remains: how did Austin FC and Major League Soccer allow a man reported for domestic violence to become the first designated player for a new franchise?
Domínguez was suspended in April while MLS investigated a recent domestic dispute between him and his ex-partner. The same woman reported him for physical violence to the court in 2016 while the couple were living in Paraguay. There was extensive news reporting around those charges and the criminal lawsuit that stemmed from them, though Domínguez was never convicted.
According to one source with knowledge of the MLS investigation, Austin FC was not aware of the 2016 domestic violence charges when Domínguez was signed, or at any point previous to the 2022 investigation.
A different source said that the league recently sought to obtain official documentation of that lawsuit and was unable to do so. Domínguez was also able to clear background checks to obtain both a green card earlier this year, and the P-1A Athlete Visa after he signed with Austin FC in August of 2020. In neither of those screens did the 2016 charges surface.
An immigration attorney told The Striker Texas that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services looks at "charged offense." Conviction is not required. However, sources' accounts of the MLS and USCIS background checks suggest that whatever official records existed for the case in 2016 either no longer exist or are not easily obtainable.
Domínguez was reinstated by MLS on May 4, but has yet to see the field since last playing on March 20 in a 1-1 draw against the Seattle Sounders. He resumed training with Verde on May 10, but was not included in the five-day road trip to Salt Lake City and Los Angeles last week. Head coach Josh Wolff continues to cite match fitness and the player’s extended period away from his teammates as reasons why he has not yet been included in a match-day roster.
Under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the MLS Players Association. Austin FC may not issue further punishment on top of the league’s suspension.
“He's going to get a full week with everyone this week,” Wolff said on Wednesday. “He stayed behind and did a decent amount of work over the last week. He’s just got to continue to make progress. And we'll see as time goes on when he'll get his opportunity.”
So far, Wolff is the only person having to answer for Domínguez’s status, including the question of whether he knew about the Paraguayan’s past when he arrived in Texas.
“I wasn’t made aware of it, no,” Wolff said when asked following the match against LA Galaxy on May 8.
Ultimately, that responsibility was in the hands of sporting director Claudio Reyna and the leadership at MLS that ultimately approves and signs player contracts. Players are employees of the league, not individual clubs. Other than carefully drafted statements surrounding Domínguez’s suspension and reinstatement, neither Reyna nor MLS have commented publicly on what was known of the 2016 charges prior to the signing.
What we do know is that Austin FC officials acted swiftly upon learning of the 2022 accusation, as less than 48 hours lapsed from the time of the club being notified of the report to the statement being released by MLS announcing that Domínguez had been suspended.
Together with MLS, Austin FC and the Austin Police Department developed a safety plan for the victim that involved a visit to her house by two officers, an APD victim services supervisor and a City of Austin counselor. We know from the police report that the counselor relayed to the police that there were no “allegations of any physical abuse,” but “there was some possible mental and emotional abuse.”
The MLS investigation also did not find evidence to substantiate any physical abuse, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. The source went so far as to call Austin FC’s handling of the situation “exemplary.”
But it bears noting that in 2016, Domínguez was the defendant in a criminal case, where he faced allegations that he physically assaulted his ex-partner on multiple occasions and forced her to have sex with him. She was also petitioning for child support and recognition of a common-law marriage.
Sources have indicated that neither his visit to Paraguay to obtain the green card, nor the two weeks it took for the process to be completed, were related to any pending legal issues in his home country. As noted above, those background checks did not return anything related to the 2016 criminal case.
Here is what we know of the previous charges from news reports between October 2016 and April 2017. All of the following information is translated from Spanish:
- In a story that Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color published on Oct. 21, 2016, Luque city prosecutor Claudia Torres says that the complaint against Domínguez by his ex-partner was made 45 days prior — on or around Sept. 6, 2016. On Oct. 20, Domínguez was charged with domestic violence. The victim gave a statement and was evaluated by a psychologist from the prosecutor’s office, and a preliminary report from that evaluation determined that she had suffered psychological damage.
- On Oct. 22, 2016, newspaper Última Hora reports that Domínguez’s lawyers challenged the involvement of the prosecutor, Torres, due to a friendship between her and the defense attorney. Torres recused herself from the case.
- On Oct. 29, 2016, ABC Color reports the details of the accusations. The victim says that Domínguez kicked her three times on March 7, 8 and 9 of 2016 and that on March 17, he again physically assaulted her and “forced her to have sexual relations.” Then the report states that on July 10, Domínguez took her to a duplex and forced her to have sexual relations. (The report does not use the word for rape. Paraguay does have legal language for rape, “coacción sexual y violación,” but the phrase used by ABC Color is “obligó a tener relaciones sexuales.”) A psychologist’s report said that the victim suffered from “post-traumatic stress disorder, due to violence.” The report also mentions an open set of charges for domestic violence in the Justice of the Peace (like a family court, rather than criminal court) that began in July and led to a restraining order requiring Domínguez to stay away from the woman, at a distance of no less than 500 meters, and prohibited him from communicating with her directly or through third parties.
- A report from Jan. 13, 2017 in Mexican sports newspaper Récord confirms that the legal process is still ongoing with Domínguez as Club América closes in on a transfer to buy him from Paraguayan club Cerro Porteño. His lawyers mention that an agreement was reached with the plaintiff so that Domínguez can leave Paraguay, either for matches with Cerro Porteño, the Paraguay national team, or “in case there is a transfer.”
- On Jan. 14, 2017, Mexican outlet Televisa reports that Domínguez has signed a four-year contract with Club América. He arrives in Mexico, and defends himself regarding the ongoing criminal case. He says, “Many things were said on this subject that annoy me because it is not the truth and it is something very serious because they are talking about me, which is being seen all over the world. It is uncomfortable that they say things and other people from other countries speak ill or think ill of you. I am calm, everything that came out about half of the things is a lie, it was said that I was arrested, something that was not true. They said I had an arrest warrant, a lot of things were said. I had a hearing at eleven in the morning, I was on the other side of the country and I couldn’t (go), they went to look for me, at two in the afternoon I showed up for the hearing. As I said in Paraguay, I am going to present myself anywhere because I have nothing to hide and the truth is that I am very calm because I have many people behind me who support me”.
Additionally, there are multiple reports from the same time period by Paraguayan tabloid Crónica that we have chosen not to include, as the newspaper carries a reputation similar to that of the New York Post in the United States or The Sun in England. However, one Crónica post from April 2, 2017 stands out. It mentions that Domínguez had reported for the March national team camp in Ypané, where he had his partner and his son with him. According to the article, the victim posted a picture on Instagram of the three of them together. After that, reporting on the trial drops off.
Certainly, by the time Austin FC was in negotiations with Domínguez’s next club, Independiente of Argentina in the summer of 2020, a Google search of his name would have returned much less information about his history with domestic violence than it does today. This is because search engines provide a real-time snapshot of the most recent and relevant information for a given topic.
In my own reporting for the Austin American-Statesman around that time, I can recall finding articles about money still owed by Independiente to Club América, as well as columns questioning his dedication to the sport. Nobody that I talked to from Argentina or Paraguay flagged his past legal issues.
The other thing that stood out, though, was the insistence by Reyna and Wolff that the roster build would consist of quality characters, both on and off the pitch. Domínguez was to be the centerpiece.
“He’s a man and a grown-up and he expects to be successful,” Reyna said of Domínguez during a conference call with media on Aug. 24, 2020, responding to a question about the player’s dedication. “In the conversations with us, it was all about him wanting to achieve and wanting to be a team that competes well. Players like Cecilio throughout the world that are creative have personalities. This is part of their strength. Of course there’s always management with players, but never did we come across any red flags.”