UPDATE (12/17): According to a new legal document obtained by Billboard, Daddy Yankee filed a second motion on Friday (Dec. 13) claiming Mireddys González also withdrew $20 million from the bank account of another of his music companies, Los Cangris, labeling it as a “desperate attempt” that went against the “warnings received and express requests that she put a stop to any management and initiative that would compromise the company’s finances,” according to the filing. “It now becomes evident why she has wanted to keep him in the dark and deny him information about the withdrawals and cash movements that she and her sister make behind his back.” The $20 million is in addition to the $80 million Daddy Yankee claims González withdrew from the bank account of his El Cartel Records in a separate injunction filed the same day.
PREVIOUSLY: Daddy Yankee filed a legal motion Friday (Dec. 13) in Puerto Rico seeking an injunction against his soon-to-be ex-wife Mireddys González, alleging she withdrew $80 million from the bank account of his El Cartel Records “without authorization,” according to court documents obtained by Billboard.
The filing by the reggaetón hitmaker (Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez) was made in a court in San Juan against González, her sister Ayeicha González Castellanos and El Cartel Records, a company founded by Yankee where González allegedly serves as CEO and González Castellanos serves as secretary/treasurer.
The 16-page filing claims that “in spite of the plaintiff being the owner of the shares of the company and being the reason for the existence of the corporation Cartel Records Inc., today he lacks access, interference and information, to all that he generated and continues to generate and to which he is entitled.”
Now, Yankee is asking that the court provide “immediate removal of the plaintiffs from any function or interference in the corporations as officers or administrators thereof and the delivery of the information and documentation that they have illegitimately withheld.”
Yankee claims that González and González Castellanos improperly moved to “concentrate in their persons a greater power over the operations of the Cartel than was authorized, which has resulted in a detrimental and negligent performance for the company.” He also claims they “failed to render an accurate account of their actions, disregarded formalities and requirements of the corporate legislation, irresponsible financial decisions.”
In one claim detailed in Friday’s court filing, Yankee says González hired a third party to represent El Cartel in the sale of the plaintiff’s music catalog to Concord, which Billboard reported in October. He claims the transaction was formalized by selling these rights at a price that “turned out to be unreasonable, disproportionate and far below the real value.”
“Despite the plaintiff having signed the agreement, under the advice of that third party and the defendants, the plaintiff was not provided with a copy of all the contract documents, and to this day he does not know the real scope of the transaction, nor does he have detailed knowledge of what was or was not sold, nor the limitations he may have on the use of his musical creations,” the filing reads.
According to the legal filing, the huge theft of company funds occurred on Thursday (Dec. 12) after Yankee had already revoked González and González Castellanos’ authority and had “warned that they could not carry out any transactions on behalf of El Cartel.”
“Without the knowledge and authorization of the plaintiff and in violation of the requirements of the Law, a bank transfer was made, withdrawing, according to the information obtained, eighty million dollars from the corporate account of the entity,” his lawyers wrote.
Billboard reached out to González and González Castellanos for comment but did not hear back at press time.
The new legal battle comes just weeks after Daddy Yankee and González announced they were divorcing after 20 years of marriage.
“With a heart full of respect and honesty, I want to share some important news about my personal life,” Yankee said in a statement on his Instagram Stories on Dec. 2. “After more than two decades of marriage and after many months of trying to save my marriage, which my wife and I share, today my lawyers respond to the divorce petition received by Mireddys.”
Besides her role as CEO of El Cartel, González was also the manager of the reggeatón artist and is widely known to wield broad influence over Yankee’s music career. As the artist previously told Billboard: “She’s the boss. She has always been the boss.”
