LOS ANGELES — A jury has found the former major league outfielder yasiel puig The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday that he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and lying to federal authorities investigating the illegal gambling operation.
The verdict came after a multi-week trial that included testimony from Major League Baseball officials and Hawaii baseball coach Donnie Kadokawa, through whom Puig placed the bets. Puig now faces up to 20 years in federal prison and will be sentenced on May 26.
Puig’s attorney, Kerry Curtis Axel, said the government has failed to prove key elements of its case and plans to raise post-trial motions.
“We are eager to clear Yasiel’s name,” Axel said.
Puig, 35, initially pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to federal agents investigating illegal gambling operations. He admitted in an August 2022 plea agreement that over a few months in 2019 he lost more than $280,000 betting on tennis, football and basketball games through a third party who worked for an illegal gambling operation run by former minor league baseball player Wayne Nix.
Nix pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and subscribing to false tax returns. He is still awaiting sentencing.
Authorities said Puig placed at least 900 bets through Knicks-controlled betting websites and a person who worked for the Knicks.
Prosecutors said that during an interview with federal investigators in January 2022, he denied knowing the nature of his bets, who he was betting with and the circumstances of paying off his gambling debts.
But according to a statement from his lawyers in Los Angeles, he changed his tune months later and announced he was changing his plea to not guilty due to “significant new evidence.”
“I want to clear my name,” Puig said in the statement. “I should never have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”
The government argued that he deliberately misled federal investigators. They played English-speaking audio clips of Puig in court and brought in expert witnesses to testify on Puig’s cognitive abilities, The New York Times reported.
His lawyers said Puig, who has a third-grade education, had untreated mental health problems and did not have his own interpreter or criminal legal counsel during interviews with federal investigators, where he allegedly lied.
According to the Times, Puig’s former attorney Steven Gebelin testified that during the January 2022 interview, Puig tried to be helpful in answering investigators’ questions and the interpreter struggled with Puig’s Spanish dialect.
Puig appeared in seven major league seasons, hitting .277 with 132 home runs and 415 RBI, the first of six dodgers. He earned 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 age 22, a year after fleeing his home country of Cuba.
he played for cincinnati reds And cleveland Before becoming a free agent in 2019. He then played in the Mexican League and signed a one-year, $1 million contract last year
