Daddy Yankee sues Raphy Pina and others for alleged illegal royalty appropriation scheme

The singer Daddy Yankee, along with his company Los Cangris Inc., filed a federal lawsuit against the producer and former friend Raphy Pina, his ex-wife Mireddys González, lawyers Edwin Prado and Andrés Coll, as well as several additional entities, for allegedly having operated for more than a decade a scheme to illegally appropriate royalties and publishing rights of dozens of his songs and those of other artists.

The lawsuit, filed this Saturday, accuses the defendants of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) and the Puerto Rico Organized Crime Act. The legal action arises after, in early 2025, an anomaly was detected in the catalog of compositions of the urban genre icon, which led to an internal investigation that, according to the lawsuit, revealed a prolonged pattern of irregularities.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants diverted income, manipulated contractual information, and executed maneuvers to control and profit from the artist’s intellectual property without authorization. The lawsuit seeks financial remedies, damages, and injunctive relief to stop what the singer’s lawyers describe as “a systematic operation of appropriation and fraud.”

So far, the defendants have not issued public statements about the case.