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In Los Angeles, a jury has convicted former major league outfielder Yasiel Puig of obstruction of justice and providing false statements to federal authorities investigating an illegal gambling ring, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday.
The decision follows a trial that lasted several weeks, during which Major League Baseball representatives and Donny Kadokawa, a Hawaii-based baseball coach involved with Puig’s betting activities, provided testimony. With this verdict, Puig could face up to 20 years in federal prison, with sentencing scheduled for May 26.
Keri Curtis Axel, Puig’s attorney, criticized the prosecution’s case, arguing that they failed to sufficiently prove crucial aspects. She intends to file post-trial motions to contest the verdict.
“We are eager to vindicate Yasiel,” Axel stated.
Puig, who is 35, had previously agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of misleading federal investigators looking into the illegal gambling operation. In a plea deal from August 2022, he admitted to accruing losses exceeding $280,000 over several months in 2019 by betting on sports such as tennis, football, and basketball. These bets were placed through an intermediary linked to Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player who operated the illegal gambling enterprise.
Nix pled guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and subscribing to a false tax return. He is still awaiting sentencing.
Authorities said Puig placed at least 900 bets through Nix-controlled betting websites and through a man who worked for Nix.
Prosecutors said that during a January 2022 interview with federal investigators, Puig denied knowing about the nature of his bets, who he was betting with, and the circumstances of paying his gambling debts.
But he changed his tune months later, announcing that he was switching his plea to not guilty because of “significant new evidence,” according to a statement from his attorneys in Los Angeles.
“I want to clear my name,” Puig said in the statement. “I never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”
The government argued that he intentionally misled the federal investigators. They played in court audio clips of Puig speaking English and brought expert witnesses to testify on Puig’s cognitive abilities, the New York Times reported.
His attorneys said that Puig, who has a third-grade education, had untreated mental-health issues and did not have his own interpreter or criminal legal counsel with him during the interview with federal investigators where he purportedly lied.
Puig’s former attorney Steven Gebelin testified that during the January 2022 interview, Puig tried to be helpful in answering the investigators’ questions and the interpreter struggled with Puig’s Spanish language dialect, according to the New York Times.
Puig batted .277 with 132 home runs and 415 RBIs while appearing in seven major league seasons, the first six with the Dodgers, where he earned an All-Star selection in 2014.
Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully called Puig the “wild horse” for his on-field antics and talent at a young age, joining MLB at 22, a year after escaping his home country of Cuba.
He played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians in 2019 before becoming a free agent. He then played in the Mexican League and last year he signed a one-year, $1 million contact with South Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes.