Puig to plead guilty in illegal sports gambling case

Former Major League Baseball subordinate Yasiel Puig has agreed to plead blameworthy to a national complaint for lying to instrumentality enforcement officials astir sports bets helium made with an amerciable gambling operator, according to documents unsealed Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Puig, who present plays professionally successful South Korea, volition plead blameworthy to 1 number of making mendacious statements, a transgression that carries a maximum condemnation of 5 years successful national prison. He besides agreed to wage a good of astatine slightest $55,000.

Puig volition marque his archetypal quality successful U.S. District Court connected Tuesday.

According to his plea statement filed connected Aug. 29, Puig -- who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland during a seven-year MLB vocation from 2013 to '19 -- began placing bets connected sporting events successful May 2019 done a 3rd enactment who worked for an amerciable gambling cognition tally by Wayne Nix, a erstwhile insignificant league shot player.

By June 2019, Puig was down $282,900 to Nix's gambling business; aft paying disconnected $200,000 of his losses and regaining entree to Nix-controlled betting websites, Puig placed 899 further bets connected tennis, shot and hoops games from July 4, 2019, to Sept. 29, 2019.

The DOJ release did not notation immoderate bets that were made connected baseball. Puig played for Cincinnati and Cleveland successful 2019 earlier becoming a escaped agent. He past played successful the Mexican League, and past year, helium signed a one-year, $1 cardinal interaction with South Korea's Kiwoom Heroes.

In January, national investigators interviewed Puig successful the beingness of his lawyer. In his plea agreement, Puig acknowledged lying to those national agents who were looking into the business, denying helium had placed bets done the operation.

"When fixed the accidental to beryllium truthful astir his engagement with Nix's gambling businesses, Mr. Puig chose not to," IRS Criminal Investigation Los Angeles Field Office Special Agent successful Charge Tyler Hatcher said successful the release. "Mr. Puig's lies hindered the ineligible and procedural tasks of the investigators and prosecutors."

Nix pleaded blameworthy successful April to conspiracy to run an amerciable sports gambling concern and filing a mendacious taxation return. Prosecutors said Nix's cognition ran for 2 decades and included some existent and erstwhile nonrecreational athletes arsenic clients oregon employees.

Federal prosecutors besides announced Monday that different erstwhile MLB player, Erik Kristian Hiljus, 49, of Los Angeles, had agreed to plead blameworthy to 2 counts of subscribing to mendacious taxation returns. They said helium was an cause for Nix's operation.

Hiljus was drafted by the New York Mets successful 1991 but made his large league debut successful 1999 with the Detroit Tigers. He besides played for the Oakland Athletics successful 2001 and 2002. He pitched 124 innings successful 4 seasons, going 8-3 with a 4.72 vocation ERA.

Hiljus could look up to six years successful national situation astatine sentencing.

Puig batted .277 with 132 location runs and 415 RBIs crossed his 7 large league seasons, the archetypal six with the Dodgers, with whom helium earned an All-Star enactment successful 2014.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was included successful this report.