Singer Ricky Martin has sued his nephew for $20 million, saying that the charges of fraudulent sexual assault caused him to lose multiple million-dollar engagements.
The 50-year-old Martin, whose real name is Enrique Martin Morales, filed a lawsuit against his nephew Dennis Yadiel Sanchez on Wednesday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, alleging that Sanchez has continued to “harass” the famous musician in an effort to make money.
The lawsuit states that the subject of the case is a well-known artist who is “being persecuted, besieged, harassed, stalked, and extorted by a mentally unstable person, whose interest is to obtain an economic benefit or, in the alternative, will continue his eagerness to assassinate the reputation and integrity of the artist.”
“Despite the Defendant voluntarily withdrawing from an action he had brought against Plaintiff based on false allegations, during which he testified under oath that he had never been sexually attacked by Plaintiff, the issue has persisted,” the statement reads.
According to Puerto Rico’s domestic violence statute, a court imposed a restraining order against Martin in July. However, the police withheld more information, including the identity of the order’s requester.
The restraining order indicated that Martin and the petitioner had been dating for seven months when it was granted, according to the Puerto Rico daily El Vocero, according to the Associated Press.
According to the decision, they split up two months previously, but the petitioner claimed Martin refused to accept the breakup and had been seen lurking close to the petitioner’s residence at least three times. The order was not made available to the AP.
A court spokeswoman told the AP at the time, commenting on conditions of anonymity as required by tribunal regulations, that “the petitioner terminated his claims voluntarily” and “the case was archived” a few weeks later.
Martin angrily refuted the claims, and it was never shown that his nephew was the petitioner.
However, according to Martin, a month after rescinding the restraining order, Sanchez allegedly started messaging the musician on Instagram and threatened Martin that “unless he is economically compensated, he will continue with his campaign to assassinate his reputation and integrity, through false and malicious imputations,” according to the lawsuit. Martin also claims that Sanchez threatened Martin in a phone call.
In addition, according to Martin’s lawsuit, Sanchez sent Martin up to 10 texts each day for many months previous to the restraining order filing and bragged in public about being his nephew.
The lawsuit states that Martin alleges Sanchez also posted his phone number on Instagram “as an act of vengeance for the silence and lack of attention from Plaintiff” and established a “profile” for one of his underage children without his permission.
Martin believes that his nephew’s activities cost him millions of dollars in negotiations and resulted in projects being shelved.
The lawsuit claims that defendant Sanchez’s “careless, intentional, and negligent activities were motivated by the goal to subject plaintiff to hate and contempt from his following, to harm his financial chances, and to damage his reputation.”
In reality, these activities led to the cancellation of multimillion dollar contracts and ongoing and upcoming creative endeavours for the Plaintiff.
In addition to his alleged financial losses, Martin asserts that the charges have hurt his image after 40 years in the entertainment business and that he no longer feels secure in Puerto Rico. Martin is asking for $20 million in total compensation.
The claim said that the defendants’ “culpable activities have also caused harm to plaintiff’s reputation,” who “enjoyed an outstanding reputation established via his lengthy creative and philanthropic career during the past nearly 40 years of his life, until the protection order became public knowledge.”