6ix9ine: Every Criminal Case, Lawsuit, and 2026 Sentence

The criminal cases involving Tekashi 6ix9ine, the Brooklyn rapper whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez, span roughly a decade: a 2015 New York conviction for use of a child in a sexual performance, a 2018 federal racketeering prosecution tied to the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods that he cooperated out of, two 2023–2024 arrests in the Dominican Republic, and a 2025 supervised release violation that sent him back to federal custody. He was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on April 3, 2026, after finishing a three-month sentence.¹

The 2015 Child Sex Performance Case

Hernandez was 18 when he was arrested in New York in March 2015 on charges of use of a child in a sexual performance, after videos surfaced online showing him engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty. The plea required him to obtain his GED and stay out of trouble before sentencing, and he did neither. Sentencing was pushed back 19 times because the GED requirement was unmet, and during that stretch he picked up additional arrests for attacking a minor, assaulting a police officer, and driving with a suspended license.²

Prosecutors asked for one to three years in prison. On October 26, 2018, Judge Felicia A. Mennin instead sentenced him to four years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service.² He was not required to register as a sex offender, but he was barred from any gang affiliation and from posting or reposting sexually explicit or violent images of women or children.³

In October 2020, the girl at the center of the 2015 case sued Hernandez and an associate under New York’s Child Victims Act, which lifts the ordinary statute of limitations. The complaint alleged child sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.⁴

The Federal Racketeering Case

Less than a month after the probation sentence, on November 19, 2018, Hernandez was arrested with five other members and associates of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. The Southern District of New York charged him with racketeering conspiracy, multiple counts of violent crime in aid of racketeering, firearms offenses, and narcotics trafficking.⁵ The counts together carried a mandatory minimum of 47 years.⁶

Cooperation and Guilty Plea

Hernandez began cooperating almost immediately. In January 2019 he pleaded guilty to nine counts and agreed to testify against Nine Trey members.⁶ His testimony at the October 2019 trial of Anthony “Harv” Ellison and Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack helped convict both men of racketeering, and Ellison was additionally convicted of kidnapping Hernandez, maiming, and assault.⁷ His cooperation also pushed most of the remaining co-defendants into plea deals.⁸

The kidnapping Ellison was convicted of took place on July 22, 2018. Hernandez was forced into a car, assaulted, and robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry; the abduction was captured on surveillance footage, including from a vehicle federal investigators had wired. Court filings also indicated Hernandez placed a $50,000 bounty on Ellison after the incident.⁹

Sentence and Early Release

On December 18, 2019, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer sentenced Hernandez to 24 months, well below the 47-year mandatory minimum, and credited his cooperation as “impressive,” “game changing,” “complete,” and “brave.” He had already served 13 months.⁸ On April 2, 2020, Engelmayer released him to home confinement for the last four months, citing his severe asthma and the risk from COVID-19.¹⁰ He finished the sentence at an undisclosed residence with a GPS monitor.¹¹

Hernandez declined to enter federal witness protection and hired private, round-the-clock security instead.¹²

Civil Lawsuits Tied to the Federal Case

In December 2020, Seketha Wonzer and Kevin Dozier sued Hernandez over a 2018 gunpoint robbery in a Manhattan office building carried out by Nine Trey members while Hernandez watched from a nearby vehicle. Their complaint alleged civil RICO violations, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.¹³ In August 2022, a federal magistrate judge ruled for the plaintiffs and recommended damages of $30,000 for Wonzer and $67,500 for Dozier, including compensatory, punitive, and RICO treble damages.¹⁴

Fashion Nova filed a separate suit in California state court in March 2020, seeking $2.2 million for breach of contract and conspiracy to defraud. The company said it paid a $225,000 advance in October 2018 for promotional work that never happened before Hernandez’s arrest.¹⁵

Arrests in the Dominican Republic

After finishing his federal sentence, Hernandez moved to the Dominican Republic and was arrested twice in a few months.

In October 2023, he was accused of assaulting two music producers, Cristian Anthony Rojas and Nelson Alfonso Hilario García (known as Diamond La Mafia), reportedly out of jealousy over their time with his then-girlfriend, Dominican rapper Yailin La Más Viral. One producer said his jaw was broken and required surgery. Authorities put Hernandez on a migration alert and took him into custody at a hotel in Sanchez on October 15, 2023, after he agreed by phone to surrender.¹⁶¹⁷

On January 17, 2024, Dominican authorities arrested him again in Santo Domingo on domestic violence allegations involving Yailin.¹⁸ On January 25, 2024, Judge Fátima Veloz ordered his conditional release on a $510 deposit, with mandatory government counseling, in-person reporting every two months, and mutual protection orders. His attorney accused prosecutors of fabricating evidence; the prosecutor raised concern about why victims in such cases recant or decline to file complaints.¹⁹

Supervised Release Violations and the 2026 Sentence

Hernandez remained on federal supervised release from the racketeering case, and in 2025 that produced two problems. In March 2025, Miami police raided his home on a confidential tip and found three MDMA pills and cocaine residue. In August 2025, he punched a man at a Florida mall who had taunted him over his cooperation with prosecutors.²⁰

In July 2025 he pleaded guilty to two drug-related probation violation counts. Prosecutors dropped two counts tied to a gun and fentanyl found on the property after DNA testing did not link him to the weapon and it emerged that another person had been living in the pool house where those items were found.²¹ On December 5, 2025, Judge Engelmayer sentenced him to three months in prison, telling him, “From time to time your actions suggest that you believe that ordinary rules don’t apply to you.” His defense had asked for home confinement.²⁰

He surrendered to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on January 6, 2026, with his attorney saying he expected to be segregated from the general population.²² He walked out on April 3, 2026, and, according to a spokesperson, plans to resume his music career.²³

1
New York Post. Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Brags That Maduro Signed His SpongeBob Toy in Infamous NYC Lockup
2
Highsnobiety. 6ix9ine Sentenced Four Years Probation
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NBC Miami. Tekashi 6ix9ine Sentenced to Probation in Child Sex Case
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Pitchfork. Tekashi 6ix9ine Sued for 2015 Sexual Assault of a Minor
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U.S. Department of Justice. Recording Artist and Performer Tekashi 6ix9ine and Five Other Members and Associates Indicted
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Hollywood Reporter. Tekashi 6ix9ine Sentenced in Gang Case
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BBC. Tekashi 6ix9ine Trial Convictions
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CBS News. Brooklyn Native Tekashi 6ix9ine Gets 2 Years in Prison for Racketeering
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Complex. Lawyer for Tekashi 6ix9ine Alleged Kidnapper Says Rapper Faked the Incident
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Los Angeles Times. Tekashi 6ix9ine Released to Home Confinement
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ABC News. Rapper Tekashi69 Released From Prison Early Over Coronavirus Concerns
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Vulture. Tekashi 6ix9ine Won’t Enter Witness Protection Program
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Pitchfork. Tekashi 6ix9ine Sued by Victims of 2018 Gunpoint Robbery
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Vibe. 6ix9ine Ordered to Pay Victims of Robbery
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Music Business Worldwide. Tekashi 6ix9ine Sued for $2.2M by Fashion Nova
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Rolling Stone. Tekashi 6ix9ine Arrested in Dominican Republic for Attacking Music Producers
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NME. 6ix9ine Arrested in Dominican Republic for Allegedly Assaulting Producer
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CBS News. Tekashi 6ix9ine Arrested on Domestic Violence Charges in Dominican Republic
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Courthouse News Service. Dominican Judge Orders Conditional Release of US Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine in Domestic Violence Case
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U.S. News. Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Gets 3 Months in Prison for Violating Probation in Gang Case
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Courthouse News Service. Prison Possible as Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Pleads Guilty to Probation Violations
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ABC7 New York. Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Turns Himself in to Brooklyn Jail for 3-Month Sentence
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Rolling Stone. Tekashi 6ix9ine Jail Sentence