The baseball star went into his first dialog with federal investigators assured he was “not a goal.”
The lead prosecutor on a sprawling sports activities betting case, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeff Mitchell, instructed the participant’s lawyer that he didn’t consider it was a federal crime to make funds to an unlawful bookmaker, because the participant was suspected of doing. Investigators had been after “an illegal sports activities playing group,” Mitchell mentioned, in line with a court docket declaration reviewed by The Instances.
In different phrases: The feds wished the bookies — not the bettors.
Regardless of these assurances, the participant — former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig — is at the moment staring down two federal prices for obstruction of justice and making false statements, after allegedly mendacity throughout his preliminary dialog with Mitchell.
The extremely contentious case, involving a one-count plea deal Puig accepted after which backed out of, remains to be pending. However it’s already a warning for different skilled sports activities gamers — together with Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani, a present Dodger who now finds himself in the course of a betting scandal.
Puig’s case reveals how witnesses in federal investigations can grow to be targets themselves if they’re suspected of veering from the reality, and the way international athletes — accustomed to different individuals speaking, dealing with funds and negotiating unfamiliar cultural conditions for them — can face further pitfalls inside the U.S. authorized system.
Ohtani, talking Monday for the primary time, reiterated his declare from final week that his former interpreter and shut buddy Ippei Mizuhara had stolen thousands and thousands of {dollars} from him to repay unlawful playing money owed, together with by allegedly accessing Ohtani’s monetary accounts behind his again.
With out providing specifics, Ohtani additionally mentioned he and his attorneys have reached out to legislation enforcement authorities within the matter, with whom he intends to completely cooperate.
In accordance with authorized consultants, that’s the suitable transfer for somebody who’s a sufferer.
“If that’s his story and he’s sticking to it, he higher hope and pray that’s the reality,” mentioned David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor who now has a white-collar felony protection apply.
Weinstein and others additionally suggested the two-way star from Japan to proceed cautiously, whether or not he’s a goal of investigators or not.
Ohtani’s clarification of what occurred instantly contradicts a story Mizuhara had been pushing till very lately, which was that Ohtani had acted as a involved buddy and paid off the money owed on Mizuhara’s behalf. Mizuhara allegedly instructed that model as soon as to ESPN and once more to your entire Dodgers group throughout a current assembly additionally attended by group officers and Ohtani.
Ohtani mentioned Monday that he didn’t perceive what was being mentioned on the assembly, however turned suspicious, began questioning Mizuhara and his personal representatives and found the interpreter had allegedly been stealing from him and mendacity about it.
Regardless of the case, Ohtani ought to clear up any inconsistencies in his account and be crystal clear concerning the information earlier than he takes them from the press room into any formal conversations with investigators, authorized consultants mentioned.
“What occurred with Puig is a cautionary story for everybody, at any time when they’re going to go and speak to legislation enforcement,” Weinstein mentioned.
Ohtani “shouldn’t be making some other statements to the general public — to anyone, not even any person he thinks is his buddy,” Weinstein mentioned. “He needs to be sitting down along with his attorneys and spending lots of time along with his attorneys and his accountants and his representatives going over his monetary statements, what he knew, who had entry to his accounts.”
Keri Axel, one in every of Puig’s present attorneys, mentioned Puig’s expertise was certainly instructive for different gamers, particularly those that — like Puig and Ohtani — communicate little English and are used to counting on others.
“The Ohtani state of affairs demonstrates that many athletes — notably from different international locations — rely closely on advisers and intermediaries, and are disconnected with American tradition and its authorized system, whereas on the similar time being exploited for straightforward headlines and their errors are put below a microscope,” Axel mentioned. “That’s precisely what occurred with Puig.”
‘I no mentioned nothing, I not speaking’
In March 2022, in line with court docket data, Puig allegedly despatched a recorded message to a buddy by way of WhatsApp.
“I no mentioned nothing, I not speaking,” the Cuban participant mentioned in English, of his dialog with prosecutors two months prior. “I mentioned that I solely know [Agent 1] from baseball.”
In accordance with prosecutors, it was the most recent piece of proof that Puig — who performed for the Dodgers between 2013 and 2018 — had lied to them.
“Agent 1” is the moniker federal prosecutors have given to a former collegiate baseball participant turned personal baseball coach who they alleged served as Puig’s connection to the “Nix Playing Enterprise,” as they known as the illicit operation, after its chief Wayne Nix.
Agent 1 is Donny Kadokawa, in line with a number of sources accustomed to the case however not licensed to talk on behalf of legislation enforcement. A spokesman for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Los Angeles declined to remark. An lawyer for Kadokawa — who has pleaded responsible to submitting false tax returns — declined to remark.
By the point prosecutors spoke with Puig in January 2022, they had been constructing out a roster of witnesses. They’d zeroed in on him partly as a result of they knew that two cashiers’ checks drawn on his accounts had been despatched to a “important shopper of the Nix Playing Enterprise,” in line with Mitchell’s declaration.
In the course of the dialog, prosecutors believed Puig was mendacity about his interactions with the Nix group, and warned one in every of his attorneys that what he was saying didn’t match the proof they already had.
Puig’s present attorneys say he hadn’t been given any data that might have allowed him to arrange for the dialog, which was held over a video hyperlink, and didn’t have his personal interpreter current.
In Might 2022, prosecutors despatched Puig a “goal letter,” informing him that he had grow to be a spotlight of their investigation. Along with the checks, prosecutors had obtained a trove of textual content messages from Agent 1, who court docket data present was cooperating with their investigation.
That July, Puig signed a take care of prosecutors by which he agreed to plead responsible to at least one rely of constructing false statements and prosecutors agreed to not pursue a extra critical cost of obstruction of justice.
Nonetheless, that November, Puig refused to plead responsible, saying he hadn’t lied and was harmless of the cost towards him. Prosecutors responded by refiling their indictment towards Puig, this time including the obstruction cost.
They alleged Puig had obtained help from Agent 1 in putting “at the least 899 bets on sporting occasions” over a five-month interval in 2019, and had made $200,000 in funds, by way of cashiers’ checks, on to the opposite Nix shopper, who was owed that quantity by the Nix operation.
Prosecutors mentioned Puig was warned that mendacity to them was against the law and that he understood their questions.
Puig’s attorneys have fought again, arguing the entire case was a matter of miscommunication — or worse, entrapment. They’ve denounced the prosecution as unfair, culturally tone-deaf, racially biased and pointless. They’ve mentioned Puig suffers from various cognitive disabilities — together with consideration deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction and post-traumatic stress dysfunction — that prosecutors did not take into consideration.
Puig “has had very restricted formal schooling, receiving the equal of solely a third-grade schooling earlier than he was despatched to Cuba’s government-run Baseball Academy on the age of 9,” his attorneys wrote in a single submitting.
These arguments haven’t moved the needle a lot in court docket to this point, however one other has.
Puig’s attorneys efficiently challenged prosecutors’ use of his earlier plea deal as proof towards him within the case shifting ahead. Prosecutors have since appealed that call to the U.S. ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals, calling it “a problem of remarkable significance” that, if allowed to face, would have “wide-ranging penalties in each district within the Ninth Circuit, together with on defendants who would not be capable to depend on a prosecutor’s guarantees in a plea settlement.”
Puig’s appellate lawyer Jean-Claude André — the previous appellate chief in the identical U.S. lawyer’s workplace — known as that declare “preposterous.”
He mentioned the district decide appropriately barred prosecutors from mentioning the deal of their case as a result of she had but to simply accept the plea and had by no means questioned Puig about his understanding of it at a listening to, which is a regular a part of the plea course of.
“The federal government ought to simply attempt the case pretty on the information, which we’re able to do,” André mentioned.
Bookies ‘are a dime a dozen’
Axel mentioned Puig — who had left MLB and was taking part in in South Korea when prosecutors first approached him, and is now taking part in in Mexico — backed out of the plea deal “as a result of he couldn’t plead responsible to against the law he didn’t commit.” The lawyer mentioned the case is flawed partly as a result of it hinges on the “mistaken or unfaithful” claims of different targets of their investigation.
It isn’t clear whether or not Puig’s case and the one swirling round Ohtani are associated.
In accordance with prosecutors, Nix — a former minor league pitcher — began the Nix Playing Enterprise round 2001, utilizing his skilled sports activities connections to recruit fellow athletes as brokers and bettors.
Nix labored out of his dwelling in Newport Seaside and on the Vegas Strip, the place he and his prospects had been handled as high-rollers and the place Nix organized multi-million greenback bets and processed illicit proceeds by casinos, together with by paying off short-term, in-house traces of credit score generally known as markers in money, prosecutors have mentioned.
In March 2022, the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in L.A. introduced prices towards Nix and a handful of others allegedly in enterprise with him, together with the operators of an offshore sports-betting web site and a check-cashing retailer believed to have laundered proceeds. Ultimately, in addition they introduced one other goal: Scott Sibella, former president of the MGM Grand on line casino and later an govt of Resorts World Final Vegas.
In accordance with a December 2023 plea settlement, Sibella had admitted to prosecutors that he believed Nix was an unlawful bookie, however had nonetheless allowed him to gamble giant sums at MGM with out alerting authorities to the exercise as required.
“On this enterprise, they [bookies] are a dime a dozen… I keep out of it. If we all know, we are able to’t enable them to gamble,” Sibella instructed prosecutors. “I didn’t ask, I didn’t need to know I suppose as a result of he wasn’t doing something to cheat the on line casino.”
Nix and Sibella, who’s not a on line casino govt, have pleaded responsible to federal crimes within the case. As well as, MGM Grand and the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas have agreed to pay a mixed $7.45 million to settle a money-laundering probe tied to the investigation.
As a part of these settlements, MGM Grand admitted that Sibella and two on line casino hosts knew about Nix’s unlawful enterprise however allowed him to make use of illicit proceeds on the on line casino, whereas the Cosmopolitan admitted that one in every of its hosts knew about Nix’s enterprise however allowed him to make use of his proceeds there.
The Washington Submit has reported that it was the investigation into Sibella that landed Mizuhara’s alleged bookie, Orange County resident Mathew Bowyer, in prosecutors’ crosshairs.
Federal brokers raided Bowyer’s San Juan Capistrano dwelling final 12 months as a part of their investigation, however his lawyer, Diane Bass, lately instructed The Instances that he has not been charged with against the law. She additionally mentioned he “by no means met, spoke with, texted, or had contact in any means with Shohei Ohtani.”
‘You’ve a goal in your again’
Authorized consultants following Ohtani’s case mentioned it’s important for the two-way star to get a agency grasp on the information surrounding Mizuhara’s alleged misuse of his cash, all of which needs to be in comparison with financial institution, telephone and different data earlier than being shared with prosecutors.
Weinstein, the previous federal prosecutor, mentioned unanswered questions nonetheless abound.
Had been there any fee authorizations allegedly made by Ohtani? If that’s the case, the place was he on the time? The place was Mizuhara? Who really made them? Ohtani on Monday mentioned he has by no means gambled or knowingly paid cash to any bookie.
Do Ohtani’s telephone data present any contacts between him and Mizuhara across the time of any alleged transactions with Bowyer? If that’s the case, what was the context?
Do Ohtani’s financial institution data present that any of the transactions set off fraud alerts, such that financial institution officers made inquiries as to whether or not they had been reliable? If that’s the case, how had been these inquiries responded to — and by whom?
Ohtani’s declare that he’s an athlete with little English proficiency who was taken benefit of by somebody near him received’t be taken at “face worth” by investigators, Weinstein mentioned. Prosecutors can subpoena all types of data, and can in the event that they assume a critical crime — just like the theft of thousands and thousands of {dollars} — has been dedicated.
And if both Bowyer or Mizuhara can show Ohtani is just not being truthful, Weinstein mentioned, it’s seemingly they are going to “run to the prosecutors and say, ‘I need a deal, and you recognize what I’m going to give you? Shohei Ohtani.’ ”
Axel, Puig’s lawyer, agreed Ohtani needs to be cautious — and perceive that “as a excessive profile athlete, you’ve got a goal in your again, and when you find yourself not from the U.S., it’s possible you’ll misread the context of your interactions with legislation enforcement, which ends up in misunderstandings that may be turned towards you.”
Lisette Carnet, Puig’s agent who additionally represents different Latino gamers, mentioned it’s troublesome for all immigrant athletes with language boundaries — however notably Latino gamers with little formal schooling, reminiscent of Puig — to “absolutely perceive the intricacies of our American judicial system,” and that “poses a danger” to them.
“Nobody cared sufficient about Puig to see what was really improper. It was simpler to hate him, and to consider each dangerous story about him,” Carnet mentioned, addressing what she urged was the participant’s unfair popularity as a “hothead.”
Along with his profession now hanging within the steadiness, she mentioned, Puig is “attempting to maintain a optimistic angle,” even whereas “realizing that he could maybe at all times be handled in a different way due to others’ perceptions.”
