Ricky Martin has filed suit
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Pop superstar Ricky Martin is suing his nephew for $20million claiming his relative made up false allegations of incest to “assassinate” his reputation as an artist.
The suit filed on Wednesday accused Dennis Yadiel Sánchez Martin of extortion, malicious persecution, abuse of law and damages stemming from false allegations of sexual abuse.
The Livin’ La Vida Loca star’s lawyers said the claim by the nephew has cost the singer millions of dollars in lost income.
The lawsuit alleges that Martin, 50, has been “persecuted, besieged, harassed, stalked and extorted” by his “troubled” nephew for economic reasons.
It further alleges that if the nephew does not obtain any financial benefit, he would continue to “assassinate the reputation and integrity of the artist.”
The lawsuit contends the harassment has continued even though Martin’s nephew admitted under oath in July that he had never been sexually assaulted by the artist.
The Puerto Rican singer says Sanchez - the son of his half-sister Vanessa Martin - started sending him messages over Instagram, threatening to ‘assassinate his reputation and integrity’ unless he paid him.
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 lawsuit stated that from October 2021 to January 2022, Sánchez would send up to 10 messages a day to Martin, the majority of them “meaningless diatribes without any particular purpose.”
It also accused Sánchez of publishing Martin’s private number on Instagram, which forced the singer to change his number.
It alleged Sánchez falsely alleged that he had had a romantic relationship with Martin for seven months and that Martin supposedly did not want the relationship to end and kept calling Sánchez with frequency.
“Nothing further from the truth,” according to the lawsuit.
Martin has always fervently denied the allegations.
