Tekashi 6ix9ine might soon be released from a New York prison, but a growing number of problems await him back in South Florida.
The controversial rapper, whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez, is currently facing several accusations, including that he abused, drugged and stole from an ex-girlfriend and skipped out on millions of dollars of payments to a vape company.
The Broward-based vape company QR Joy filed a lawsuit against the rapper earlier this month, saying it foot the bill for the song, “Shaka Laka,” including a $1 million payment to Kodak Black — but Hernandez didn’t hold up his end of the deal, according to a complaint.
Meanwhile, Hernandez faces a separate lawsuit in South Florida federal court from his ex-girlfriend and fellow Latin rapper Yailin La Mas Viral, who alleges he physically and emotionally abused her, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from her, and at one point held her hostage at his home in Palm Beach County.
The accusations are also linked: QR Joy, which is behind the popular Fume vapes, claims Hernandez used Yailin La Mas Viral, whose legal name is Jorgina Lulu Guillermo Diaz, as a negotiating tactic to get more money from them.
Hernandez’s attorneys, in recent court filings, have denied the claims made by Diaz. He has not yet responded to the vape lawsuit, as he is currently in prison in New York over a probation violation. He is set to be released on Dec. 12, according to his attorneys.
The South Florida saga is a continuation of Hernandez’s many legal dramas. The rapper is known for testifying against his fellow gang members in 2019 in exchange for a shorter prison sentence, which earned him the derogatory label of a “snitch” within the rap world.
“It’s like no good deed goes unpunished,” Josh Kon, one of the attorneys for QR Joy, the vape company, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “They tried to help him, tried to rehabilitate his reputation. I think Kodak Black got a lot of flack for what he did.”
‘Violate all possible bounds of decency’
Diaz filed her lawsuit against Hernandez in September, only a month after the two broke up but over a year since she began to endure his abuse, according to her attorneys.
The lawsuit is an effort to “hold Defendant accountable for his long history of physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse and exploitation of Plaintiff, his former girlfriend, as well as financial fraud that he has committed,” attorneys wrote in the complaint.
The two began talking in April 2023 after Hernandez approached Diaz while she was in the middle of divorcing Latin music star Anuel AA, with whom she has a daughter, according to the complaint. “Anuel AA had once been a close friend of Defendant’s, until Defendant became a federal informant,” attorneys wrote.
Diaz and Hernandez began to collaborate, including on the viral hit “Pa Ti,” which has garnered over 100 million views, though Diaz never received compensation for it, attorneys argue in the complaint.
The complaint says Hernandez soon began to isolate Diaz from her family and friends, telling her that people around her were exploiting and stealing from her. Meanwhile, he began to beat her, drug her, and steal from her, according to the complaint. One of the attacks allegedly occurred on a private plane from New York to Florida, another at a Miami nightclub.
Then, in December 2023, the complaint argues, Hernandez and his security “effectively imprisoned” Diaz at his Palm Beach County home, taking her passport and money.
A “distraught” Diaz “lashed out” and damaged his car and scuffled with him, according to the complaint. Hernandez then called the police. He told them she had begun hitting him when he tried to leave the house during a daylong fight, which originated out of her thinking he was looking at other women, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Diaz on aggravated domestic battery with a deadly weapon and other charges. The charges were later dismissed; Hernandez’ attorneys say he chose not to pursue them. In January, Hernandez was arrested in the Dominican Republic on domestic violence charges after authorities say he assaulted Diaz.
In a statement Saturday, Strebnick and Guerrero said Diaz had been violent towards Hernandez, calling her accusations “baseless.”
“When Daniel met Yailin, she and her baby had been abandoned,” the statement said. “Out of compassion and love, Daniel provided them emotional and financial support, playing a pivotal role in advancing her career. Yailin repaid his kindness with violence, documented in multiple videos online, leading to her arrest for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon — charges that Daniel chose not to pursue. His heartbreak inspired a song about their relationship. Now, instead of showing gratitude, Yailin has filed a lawsuit full of baseless accusations to exploit him for financial gain. These claims are outrageous and transparently opportunistic.”
In March 2024, the complaint states, while Diaz was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, Hernandez and his brother convinced her to sign an agreement that allowed them to act as managers for her. It also made Hernandez the beneficiary of her life insurance policy.
“This clause gave Plaintiff’s violent abuser a perverse financial interest in Plaintiff’s death — an appalling threat to her personal safety,” her attorneys wrote.
After Diaz signed the management agreement, Hernandez began to use his position to ask her label for hundreds of thousands of dollars, which he would then claim he was spending on her as if it were his own money, according to the complaint.
He also told Diaz multiple times that he was “unsatisfied with her looks” and persuaded her to get multiple plastic surgeries, the complaint states.
Finally, in August, Diaz’s attorneys say she learned of the “fraud, theft, and deception” and ended the relationship. In response, attorneys argue that he posted revenge porn of the two of them on X, and that, without a court order, he will continue to do so.
The lawsuit against Hernandez almost ended in a default judgment in favor of Diaz when he failed to respond. But on Nov. 25, attorneys Lisandra Guerrero and Howard Strebnick with the firm Roy Black filed a motion to vacate the judgment, saying Hernandez “was confined under 24-hour lockdown in the Special Housing Unit at MDC Brooklyn on an unrelated matter with limited communication to the outside world” at the time the default was entered.
Hernandez “categorically denies, and intends to fully disprove, the serious accusations in the Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint seeking millions of dollars in damages,” his attorneys wrote.
A judge granted the motion and gave Hernandez 30 days to respond.
The vape lawsuit
In addition to the lawsuit from Diaz, the Broward vape company QR Joy says Hernandez owes it over $2 million after failing to abide by the terms of their contract.
“He’s kind of gone rogue,” Kon said.
About the same time as his relationship with Diaz began, the rapper had sought to improve his image, which was still tainted by the controversy over his serving as an informant, according to the Broward lawsuit filed by QR Joy.
The company had reached out to Hernandez, asking about starting up a relationship. However, at the time, Hernandez was already working with a rival vape company, Dummy Vapes, which prohibited him from working with them. (The two vape companies had also sued each other over their relationships to 6ix9ine, and the lawsuit was later settled, attorneys say).
Since Hernandez could not work with them right away, he directed QR Joy to start a relationship with Diaz instead, who began marketing vapes for them, according to the complaint.
Eventually, in July 2023, the company signed an agreement with Hernandez that would allow them to use his likeness in their projects, excluding vapes.
A month later, Hernandez “expressed concerns about his public image,” the complaint states, “which had suffered due to his legal troubles, including his past cooperation with law enforcement. To help restore his reputation, he proposed a collaboration with the well-known artist Bill Kahan Kapri, known professionally as Kodak Black, suggesting that the visibility from the collaboration, along with QR Joy’s vape brand featured in the music video, could improve his standing.”
Through a mutual friend, Hernandez made the collaboration happen. The “Shaka Laka” music video, which features Kapri, Hernandez and Diaz and depicts Diaz and Hernandez smoking Fume vapes, has garnered over 70 million views.
QR Joy ended up spending over $2.6 million on the song and other expenses, including $1 million to Kapri alone, according to the lawsuit. In return, the company was supposed to receive full rights to the song, and Hernandez was supposed to market the vapes in various ways, including sending gift boxes to influencers and attending events. He was also forbidden from using his likeness to market any other products.
But Hernandez did not abide by these agreements, the complaint states. On top of that, he began interfering with the company’s relationship to Diaz, threatening to stop her from promoting the vapes unless QR Joy gave him additional payments. Because Diaz does not speak fluent English and relies on Hernandez for translation, the complaint argues, he was “manipulating communication and potentially mispresenting information to both parties.”
Asked whether Diaz and QR Joy ever repaired their relationship, Kon said he didn’t think so.
“I know it soured it,” he said.
Both lawsuits are further complicated by the fact that Hernandez is currently in prison.
“We’re going to try to serve him there and see where it goes,” Kon said.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
