Ricky Martin has filed a lawsuit against his nephew, Dennis Martin, who made false accusations against the singer earlier this year, which have since been recanted. The Puerto Rican superstar is accusing his relative of extortion, malicious persecution, abuse of law and damages stemming from false allegations.

Dennis took legal action against his uncle after claiming that the pair had been in a sexual relationship for seven months, and that Martin stalked him once it ended. The singer was issued a restraining order in July, which was suspended later in the month when his nephew withdrew his domestic violence complaint.

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday, September 7, in the US territory’s Court of First Instance alleges that the 50 year-old has been “persecuted, besieged, harassed, stalked and extorted” by his “troubled” relative for economic reasons. It adds that if Dennis does not obtain any financial benefit he will continue to “assassinate the reputation and integrity of the artist”, also claiming that the harassment has persisted despite Martin’s nephew admitting under oath that he had made false allegations against his uncle.

Dennis is accused of sending up to 10 messages a day to his uncle between October 2021 and January 2022, the majority of which are “meaningless diatribes without any particular purpose,” along with publishing Martin’s private number on Instagram. According to the lawsuit, several months had gone by without Ricky Martin receiving any messages from his nephew, until he requested the protection order against his uncle in July.

The singer’s legal team says that the claims made by Dennis, which are “nothing further from the truth”, have cost Martin at least $10 million in lost income as a result of cancelled contracts and projects, as well as $20 million in damages to his reputation.

When the case was dropped in July, Martin tweeted a statement from his legal team, accompanied by the caption: “Truth prevails”.