EMBATTLED singer and TikTok star Malu Trevejo paid one of her ex-staffers $100k to withdraw from a lawsuit accusing her of abuse - despite claiming the claims were retracted "voluntarily."
Trevejo, 20, was sued by four of her former employees in Miami, Florida, in January who accused her of battery, defamation, sexual misconduct, and emotional abuse.
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The employees - identified as Witchneverson "Rich" Lacroix, Victoria Barreto, Ralph Colo, and Edwardo Vidal - were seeking $4million in damages.
An attorney for the Cuba-born performer denied the allegations at the time and informed RADAR Online last month that Lacroix had since "voluntarily" withdrawn the claims he made against Trevejo.
The claims were dismissed with prejudice, meaning he cannot refile them at a later date.
However, a source familiar with the matter told The U.S. Sun that Trevejo's lawyer neglected to mention that Lacroix was actually paid $100k cash by the social media star in exchange for his recanting.
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The terms of the settlement were confidential, said the source, who asked to be kept anonymous.
A lawyer for Trevejo confirmed the payment's existence to The U.S. Sun, saying: "Malu did agree to pay Lacroix a confidential nuisance value amount in order to dispose of his meritless claim."
The tipster further slammed Trevejo's camp for misrepresenting the terms of the alleged deal.
They accused Trevejo of attempting to clear her own name while besmirching Lacroix's by implying that he had admitted to lying about or exaggerating the claims he made in the suit by saying he "volunteered" to retract them.
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Lacroix and his attorney have been contacted for comment regarding the claims.
'ABUSIVE BOSS'
Trevejo is still being sued by Barreto, Colo, and Vidal.
The allegations against the singer were first reported by Rolling Stone in January.
Lacroix, 21, worked for Trevejo as a personal assistant between May and August 2022.
During his brief employment, Lacroix claimed he regularly received barrages of abusive texts from his boss, which allegedly often contained offensive and even sometimes racist language.
"DUDE YOU MUSTbe the dumbest motherf***er I’ve ever seen in myf***inglife," read one message alleged to have been authored by Trevejo.
That text was followed up by more messages, including one that said: "LIKE ARE YOU LITERALLY R****DED."
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Lacroix and his fellow plaintiffs all accused Trevejo of abusing her position as their employer to inflict emotional, mental, and verbal abuse upon them.
As a collective, they claimed Trevejo would often berate and belittle them in text messages if they failed to respond to her quickly enough or anticipate her needs.
In one exchange from July last year that was shared with Rolling Stone, Trevejo apparently became incensed with Lacroix because a private chef had arrived at her home hours earlier than expected.
"U GOTTAAAA BEEEE THE DUMBEST MFDFFFFFF FEVER [sic],” Trevejo wrote. "WHY TFFFFFFFF WOULD U CALL A CHEF AT 9AM?”
“U dumb a** s**t,” Trevejo added. “He [is] not stopping. I won’t be paying for food now. I’m going back to sleep. If he does it … I will throw the pasta [through] the f**king car u drive. Through the f**king window.”
'HUMILIATING AND DEGRADING'
Such outbursts and putdowns would occur almost daily, Lacroix and co. claimed in the suit.
As part of his role as her assistant, Lacroix said he also had to deal with other ex-employees of Trevejo's who were owed money.
He claimed this led to ex-employees making threats of violence against him over the debt.
In the suit, he claimed the threats included one person telling him they “knew where him and his family lived and that he would be subject to bombings and other such violent acts if [Tejevo] did not pay them.”
He quit his job last summer citing emotional distress.
The musician told Rolling Stone: "I don’t want her name coming up in my head and constantly having to think, ‘Damn, was I really dumb?
"Was I really stupid like she was calling me? Maybe I’m really freaking ‘retarded.’ Maybe I really should kill myself like she’d been telling me to.
"It’s so humiliating. It’s so degrading as a human being," he later added.
DISTURBING CLAIMS
Barreto, Colon, and Vidal all detailed similar allegations of abuse.
Vidal, Trevejo's ex-assistant and co-manager, alleges in the suit that on one occasion Trejevo attempted to stab him with a kitchen knife, and defamed him by accusing him of stealing from her and torturing her.
Colon, Trevejo’s ex-security guard, claims he was often thrust into "dangerous situations" due to Trevejo “instigat[ing] verbal and physical altercations … with the intent of Colon intervening to protect her.”
And Barreto, meanwhile, alleges that Trevejo made unsolicited sexual advances toward her.
When Barreto would rebuff the alleged advances, Trevejo would show “increased aggression” and throw “fits of rage,” the suit alleges.
“It was clear and apparent to Ms. Barreto that her compliance with Ms. Trevejo’s advances was required in order for her to maintain her employment and be in good standing with Ms. Trevejo,” the lawsuit claims.
Trevejo's attorney offered a blanket denial of all the allegations made by the four ex-staffers.
"Ms. Trevejo is aware of the false allegations in the lawsuit and looks forward to defending herself against these baseless claims," said Jason Ziven.
In a statement to Radar last month, discussing Lacroix's retracted claims, Ziven said: "We are happy with that result and will keep vigorously defending Malu and her name against the other plaintiffs."
However, Trevejo has filed her own suit against Stephen Belafonte, who she claims misappropriated her funds and misrepresented himself as a licensed talent agent.
Among her accusations in her filing is that Belafonte loaned her $400k through a friend only to demand $150k interest and that he used her money to pay for a Beverly Hills apartment for himself.
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In response, Belafonte's attorney Eduardo Martorell told TMZ that her accusations were false.
Martorell alleged in his own statement: "Mr. Belafonte contends that he is in possession of evidence proving Malu Trevejo abused him and others, including repeated use of the 'N-word' towards him, a black male, as well as screaming at people that worked for her while using abusive language and demanding they perform demeaning tasks."
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