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A former Major League Baseball (MLB) player, Yasiel Puigwas found guilty of obstruction of justice and providing false information to federal officials as part of a broader gambling investigation.
Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force and officers from the IRS Criminal Investigation wing are investigating a suspected flag of irregular betting involving the former star.
Puig was found guilty
Puig is best known in MLB for his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), and teams in Mexico and South Korea.
As part of a release from the US Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California, he has been found guilty of the charges and faces sentencing in May.
HSI and IRS respond to gambling red flags
In 2022, the LA Weather reports that Puig is working with federal investigators and has agreed to a plea deal to provide information about several cases involving former minor league player Wayne Joseph Nix.
Minor league name Nix reportedly operated a million dollar illegal sportsbook with the help of Edon Kagasof, Howard Miller, and the businesses Celebrity Financial LLC and Sherman Oaks Check Cashing.
He is a target of federal investigators due to alleged ties to major sports betting stars and is part of a wider investigation into his actions. Puig surprisingly walked away from the plea deal, and investigators turned their attention to the star and his testimony.
Nix pleaded guilty in 2022 and is awaiting sentencing on one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal sports gambling business and one count of filing a false tax return.
Puig’s role in the gambling scheme
After a 13-day federal trial, Puig was found to have been involved in the employment of Nix and a handler, Donny Kadokawa, and another associate, Benny Bonilla, to place bets.
In 2019, court documents showed that Puig owed Nix $282,900 in sports gambling losses and that he was ordered to wire the money to another bettor, Joseph Schottenstein.
Puig withdrew the $200,000 and issued two cashier’s checks for $100,000 each, payable to Schottenstein, on June 25, 2019.
He was then granted access to bet again on Nix and his websites and was found to have placed 899 additional bets on tennis, football, and basketball games, either nearby or on MLB sites.
Lying under federal investigation
As part of the 2022 investigation, Puig was warned by federal investigators that lying under questioning is a crime.
He did so regardless, with the report underlining that “Puig lied several times. During the interview, he falsely stated that he ‘only’ knew Kadokawa from baseball and that he had never discussed gambling with him, when in fact Puig had discussed sports betting with Kadokawa hundreds of times on the phone and via text message.
Puig was also found to have lied about cashier’s checks and connections to Nix’s associates, despite showing the former star’s agents the physical checks.
Agents also found a WhatsApp message sent in March 2022 to Bonilla, “in which he admitted that he had lied to federal agents and obstructed their grand jury investigation during his interview two months earlier.”
A court date is scheduled for May 26 for a sentencing hearing, presided over by United States District Judge Dolly M. Gee.
Puig faces a possible sentence of 10 years in federal prison on the obstruction of justice charge and up to five years in prison on the false statements charge.
Featured image: Arturo Pardavila III Via Wikicommons / CC BY 2.0
The post Former MLB star Yasiel Puig has been found guilty in a federal gambling investigation first appeared in ReadWrite.
