Ex-MLB participant Yasiel Puig to plead responsible to mendacity about unlawful sports activities bets

Former Main League Baseball participant Yasiel Puig has agreed to plead responsible to a federal cost for mendacity to regulation enforcement officers about sports activities bets he made with an unlawful playing operator, in response to paperwork unsealed Monday by the Division of Justice.

Puig, who now performs professionally in South Korea, will plead responsible to at least one rely of constructing false statements, a criminal offense that carries a most sentence of 5 years in federal jail. He additionally agreed to pay a nice of not less than $55,000.

Puig will make his preliminary look in U.S. District Courtroom on Tuesday.

In keeping with his plea settlement filed on Aug. 29, Puig — who performed for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland throughout a seven-year MLB profession from 2013 to 2019 — started putting bets on sporting occasions in Could 2019 by way of a 3rd celebration who labored for an unlawful playing operation run by Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball participant.

By June 2019, Puig was down $282,900 to Nix’s playing enterprise; after paying off $200,000 of his losses and regaining entry to Nix-controlled betting web sites, he positioned 899 extra bets on tennis, soccer and basketball video games from July 4, 2019 to Sept. 29, 2019.

The DOJ launch didn’t reference any bets that had been made on baseball. Puig performed for Cincinnati and Cleveland in 2019 earlier than turning into a free agent. He then performed within the Mexican League and final yr signed a one-year, $1 million contact with South Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes.

In January, federal investigators interviewed Puig within the presence of his lawyer. In his plea settlement, Puig acknowledged mendacity to these federal brokers who had been trying into the enterprise, denying he had positioned bets by way of the operation.

“When given the chance to be truthful about his involvement with Nix’s playing companies, Mr. Puig selected to not,” IRS Legal Investigation Los Angeles Subject Workplace Particular Agent in Cost Tyler Hatcher stated within the launch. “Mr. Puig’s lies hindered the authorized and procedural duties of the investigators and prosecutors.”

Nix pleaded responsible in April to conspiracy to function an unlawful sports activities playing enterprise and submitting a false tax return. Prosecutors stated Nix’s operation ran for twenty years and included each present and former skilled athletes as purchasers or staff.

Federal prosecutors additionally introduced Monday that one other former MLB participant, Erik Kristian Hiljus, 49, of Los Angeles, had agreed to plead responsible to 2 counts of subscribing to false tax returns. They stated he was an agent for Nix’s operation.

Hiljus was drafted by the New York Mets in 1991 however made his main league debut in 1999 with the Detroit Tigers. He additionally performed for the Oakland Athletics in 2001 and 2002. He pitched 124 innings in 4 seasons, going 8-3 with a 4.72 profession ERA.

Hiljus might resist six years in federal jail at sentencing.

Puig batted .277 with 132 residence runs and 415 RBIs throughout his seven main league seasons, the primary six with the Dodgers the place he earned an All-Star choice in 2014.

Info from The Related Press and Reuters was included on this report.