Ricky Martin sues nephew for $30M following recanted sexual assault allegations
SAN JUAN â Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin filed a lawsuit Wednesday against his nephew that accused him of extortion, malicious persecution, abuse of law and damages â stemming from false allegations of sexual abuse.
Martinâs lawyers said the claim by the nephew, which he has since recanted, has cost the singer millions of dollars in lost income.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. territoryâs Court of First Instance alleges that Martin has been âpersecuted, besieged, harassed, stalked and extortedâ by his âtroubledâ nephew for economic reasons. It further alleges that if the nephew doesnât obtain any financial benefit, he would continue to âassassinate the reputation and integrity of the artist.â
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The lawsuit contends the harassment has continued even though Martinâs nephew, identified as Dennis Yadiel SaÌnchez Martin, admitted under oath in July that he had never been sexually assaulted by the artist.
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SaÌnchez had previously taken legal action against his uncle based on those false allegations, which prompted a judge in Puerto Rico to issue a restraining order against Martin in July that a court later suspended.
Those allegations cost Martin at least $10 million in lost income as a result of canceled contracts and projects as well as $20 million in damages to his reputation, according to the lawsuit.
The attorney who represented SaÌnchez in that case couldnât be immediately reached for comment. It wasnât clear if she also would be representing SaÌnchez in the lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The lawsuit stated that from October 2021 to January 2022, SaÌnchez would send up to 10 messages a day to Martin, the majority of them âmeaningless diatribes without any particular purpose.â
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It also accused SaÌnchez of publishing Martinâs private number on Instagram, which forced the singer to change his number.
Several months then went by without SaÌnchez sending a message until he requested the protection order in July against Martin, according to the lawsuit.
It also said SaÌnchez falsely alleged that he had had a romantic relationship with Martin for seven months and that Martin supposedly didnât want the relationship to end and kept calling SaÌnchez with frequency.
âNothing further from the truth,â according to the lawsuit.
It also said two restraining orders had previously been filed against SaÌnchez in an unrelated stalking case.