NEW YORK (AP) — Former elementary league outfielder Yasiel Puig has to withdraw his plea bargain to plead guilty to misrepresentation to federal agents investigating an illegal gambling operation.
Puig is making his plea not guilty because of “significant new evidence,” according to a statement released Wednesday through his lawyers in Los Angeles.
“I need to erase my name,” Puig said in the statement. I have never agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit. “
In mid-November, the Justice Department announced that Puig, 31, had agreed to plead guilty to one count of making false statements in an interview with federal investigators in January.
That left him risking up to five years on a federal crime, even though he was eligible for parole under the plea agreement, his lawyers said. He also agreed to pay a fine of at least $55,000.
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The interview conducted via Zoom and similar to the bets that occurred in 2019, his lawyers said.
“At the time of his January 2022 interview, Mr. Puig, who has a third-year education, had untreated intellectual fitness issues and did not have his own interpreter or a thieving legal counsel with him,” Puig’s attorney, Keri Axel, said in Wednesday’s statement. “We have reviewed the evidence, added new information, and are seriously involved in the allegations opposing Yasiel. “
Axel is in talks with the government about the new evidence, he said.
Puig, who played in South Korea, was born in Cuba and spent seven seasons in the majors from 2013 to 2019, the first six with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit Array277 with 132 home runs and 415 RBIs, and won an All-Star variety in 2014.
In a plea agreement in August, Puig stated that in a matter of months in 2019, he had racked up more than $280,000 in losses betting on tennis, soccer and basketball games through a third party applying for an illegal gambling operation through Wayne Nix. a former minor league baseball player.
Puig made at least 900 bets on sites controlled through Nix and through a guy who worked for Nix, the government said.
Puig did not interact with Nix, his lawyers said Wednesday.
In the plea agreement, Puig admitted to lying in January to federal investigators investigating the company, denying the surprising bets on the deal.
Nix pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to operate an illegal sports business and file a false tax return. Prosecutors said Nix’s operation lasted two decades and included existing and former professional athletes as clients or employees.
Federal prosecutors also announced that another former MLB player, Erik Kristian Hiljus, 49, of Los Angeles, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of entering into false tax returns. They said he was an agent of Nix’s operation.
Hiljus can face up to six years in federal prison if convicted.
Puig played for Cincinnati and Cleveland in 2019 before a loose agent. He then played in the Mexican League and last year signed a one-year, $1 million contract with South Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes.
MLB investigates betting issues unless Puig tries to sign with a major league organization.