Former major league outfielder Yasiel Puig pled guilty to lying to federal agents during an investigation into an illegal gambling operation, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. The official charge, making false statements, is a felony that can carry a sentence of up to five years in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney, Puig has agreed to pay a fine of at least $55K as part of a plea agreement initially filed in August. He’s expected to make a court appearance tomorrow; it isn’t clear whether he’ll be formally sentenced at that point, nor did the U.S. Attorney announce whether Puig is expected to serve any prison time.
The press release states that Puig agreed to place hundreds of bets in an illicit gambling ring between May and September 2019. The U.S. Attorney indicates that Puig — then a member of the Reds and Indians — bet on football, tennis and basketball but does not suggest he ever placed a bet on baseball. The criminal charge stemmed not from the bets themselves but a meeting with federal investigators this past January, in which Puig told agents he’d never discussed gambling with an anonymous member of the operation. The press release indicates Puig then told a second individual in March that he’d lied to federal investigators during the January interview; agents evidently obtained that message at some point in recent months.
Puig has not played in the majors since that 2019 season. The former Dodgers All-Star sat out the 2020 campaign after a positive COVID-19 test derailed a free agent deal with the Braves. The following offseason, reports emerged he was facing a civil suit for an alleged 2018 sexual assault. Puig settled that action, and eventually signed with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization for the 2022 season. Last December, the Washington Post reported Puig had settled two additional civil actions related to sexual assault allegations back in 2017.
The 31-year-old outfielder hit .277/.368/.474 through 547 plate appearances with the Heroes this year. He has previously maintained he hopes to return to Major League Baseball, but it’s very difficult to envision him getting another MLB opportunity at this point. His KBO job may also be in jeopardy. Heroes general manager Young-wook Goh indicated this evening he’d been unaware of the gambling investigation (via reporter Daniel Kim). Goh suggested the team would look into the matter further before making any final decisions but implied they’d be unlikely to re-sign Puig based on this news.
Deport
Deport him out of the country. It is the law that if you’re caught doing what he did, he gets deported.
Don’t worry. He will be deported. The United States is super strict when it comes to deporting.
As in lax in importing cough cough.
Nobody gets deported in Joe-Ville.
Another tear-filled M-AGA monkey that is as clueless as the Fox talking points you parrot. Cry more, cuck.
What’s Trump got to do with anything?You and other idiots have an infatuation with him and ignore the fact that the country is in shambles
Wow. 2.5 years later and your still trying to fly that flag. You libs..comical.
Who said anything about Trump? So defensive. Cry more!
Uh, you did?
You dont even know what liberal is rumpkin. Get your head out your arse and stop believing everything your internet world and fox sticks in your formaldehyde brain. Grow up, think for yourself.
‘Kay
Murica!
Cubans don’t get deported.
Keep on keeping on being fooled you guys. Blue Red It don’t matter. They both rob the American people as they divide our house. Keep on fighting each other instead as the middle class gets destroyed by these politicians.
Viva la Revolucion!
citizenship was acquired by puig
Making people illegal is stupid.
crossing the border illegally is breaking the law and should be stopped
The damage he did in office will greatly outast the length of his term and was pointed out many times while he was in office he would leave the country in shambles
I used to like (tolerate) Puig but the sexual assault allegations put me in the deport Puig camp. Send Trevor Bauer with him.
The gambling part does not sound so bad (no baseball betting) had he just told the feds the truth.
Felipe Vázquez too.
I never liked a grown man who wasn’t a close friend or family member. If I did it would take more than allegations to sway me. At least need multiple buy offs or a full conviction.
Felipe got convicted and sounded like there was strong evidence to do so. I won’t put the other 2 in the same group as him yet.
he lied once, he may have lied twice
Pasadena Police said Bauer did nothing wrong.
Bauer got blackballed from mlb. That’s what the whole thing is about- get your money, but your showtime is done and no media. If that’s not blatantly obvious to you- I bet you watch the news and believe what they say.
Why lump Bauer in with him? Bauer didn’t do anything wrong aside from hooking up with with wrong woman
No. He was born with the wrong color skin at the exact wrong time.
Bauer’s a freak who should be in some psych ward rumpkin.
I sleep with women who want rough sex all the time, doesn’t make me a “freak” who belongs in a psych ward. Lucky for me I’m not famous or wealthy enough to blackmail.
@MannyBeingMVP But Bauer never sexually assaulted anyone.
Isn’t he playing overseas anyway? I’m sure his residence at this point is moot as opposed to his legal stuff. That said he’s not a pedophile like vazquez I’m not lumping him in with that sack of garbage. Settled sexual assault is bad but not in that realm, plus a settlement means no facts, we all would love to say guilty just cuz he paid out, but that’s not how that works. Welcome to America everyone… that said everyone is entitled to their opinion.
@drtymike0509 Yeah settlement could mean guilty. Or could mean it’s cheaper and a lot less publicity than a trial. Personally if my daughter was sexually assaulted I would want more than a pay off.
Your kidding right? Have you been paying attention at all? This administration wouldn’t deport Manson.
@dpsmith22,
So, you’re suggesting exhuming Charles Manson’s corpse and sending it to another country? Please provide more details, this is fascinating take.
Hi, Professor Al Hirschen! I was a student in your immigration law class at Trump University School of Law. I’m a yuge fan. I was especially impressed by your lecture involving Covfefe v. Bigly.
Can’t deport a citizen
Deport him out of the country. It is the law that if you’re caught doing what he did, to the Feds he gets deported.
i think he got citizenship
@notnamed. You are correct evidently gaining USA citizenship is quite easy these days especially if you are a rich mlb ball player. Hopefully Puig will get some nice incarceration team without a tv with cable in his cell like many celebs seem to score.
You seem to be confusing a green card with citizenship. Not the same thing. However if you happen to be Cuban, both are almost automatic.
he is a citizen. look it up. he speaks good english
Now it makes sense why no one gave him a chance… his fall from grace has been anything but graceful
I don’t think he can be deported. Wasn’t he given asylum after he defected?
He’s been a U.S. citizen since 2019.
Okay I hafta ask … tennis? Who the heck bets on tennis?
You’d be surprised. Tennis has been rocked with match fixing and gambling issues. Syndicated crime.
Many suspensions. Google is your friend. You’d be surprised.
Racketeering you might say
Love it.
Well done!!
Tip to the cap!
Ed – That’s quite amazing, goes to show I haven’t followed tennis since Anna Kournikova retired.
@FeverPitchGuy I haven’t watched tennis since Simona Halep had the reduction.
former – You guys are making me use Google a lot tonight … thank you!!!
Apparently some of us watch tennis, more than i thought but i inly watxh the majors cuz its live sports and good competition and it is rife with betting impropriety and hales did have a large reduction. love where this went
Gambling is a horrific addiction that society as a whole has cruelly ignored and instead platformed it when we should never be doing it.
UK – Gambling is like anything else, it’s fine in moderation. If somebody chooses to gamble too much, drink too much, or eat too much, that’s their problem – not the country’s problem.
The only betting I do is on a few horse races each year, it’s not a problem when a $1 bet wins you $14,870.70 in the Kentucky Derby.
Sorry but it’s sickening how the NFL and MLB have sold out to the gambling industry. As a Reds fan I have for years felt that Pete Rose was trash for betting on baseball. Now I feel that the owners of MLB are trash. Ditto for the greedy NFL. The ultra rich are preying on, and feeding, gambling addictions while providing an addiction “hotline” to cover their crimes.
Downright disgusting.
@Fever Pitch Guy Youre still losing $1 for no reason. The slope youre on is so slippery. Praying for you…
Youre still losing $1 for no reason.
==============================
No, not at all. Fever is paying $1 for entertainment. As long as he is not a compulsive gambler, buying $5 worth of lottery tickets each week is no different than buying $5 worth of ice cream each week.
Now instead of pitching match-ups we get betting lines. Pete Rose may not be the best person but he was a great ballplayer. Ty Cobb is in the HOF.
“No, not at all. Fever is paying $1 for entertainment. As long as he is not a compulsive gambler, buying $5 worth of lottery tickets each week is no different than buying $5 worth of ice cream each week.”
Nope, its not “entertainment” its an addiction. You are saying “Heroin addicts are entertained by being high” – wrong 100% wrong.
You will not win this argument, you are arguing an addiction isnt an addiction.
earmbrister – I agree with you. I also think it’s disgusting how we are seeing more and more corporate logos on MLB uniforms.
FTX on the umpires …. yeah, sure ….. promote a highly risky crypto exchange founded and run by the second-largest DNC donor. … is whoring a bad word here?
UK – As a religious man I always appreciate prayers, but I assure you I have no problem with self control … and I’m so far ahead on horse races that I could lose every race for 20 years and still be ahead.
If it helps, I never play Powerball or any of those other ripoff lottery games.
Joe – Well said and quite true. People have the right to choose how they spend their excess income. I enjoy going to the races more than spending a ton of money on fancy restaurants, nightclubs, material possessions, clothing, jewelry, etc.
Even the folks who bought Powerball tickets, they were able to dream for a couple days … $2 for that is a bargain.
UK – I think you need to look up the definition of “addiction”.
Anything in moderation is NOT an addiction.
There’s nothing wrong with having some drinks and playing some 10 dollar blackjack hands once in a while. But going 200k in debt in sports betting is a addiction not much different than drugs.
Cg141
There’s nothing wrong with having some drinks and playing some 10 dollar blackjack hands once in a while.
================================
I love gambling. My neighbors use to have poker games for quarters, make pitchers of kamikazees, and their mom would usually cook something. And these people were really funny, and would skewer anyone.
And my favorite activity in LV was to pool money with my friends, bet 4 different BB games at $10 each, and drink Becks for the cost of a $1 tip (the Mirage no longer provides free beer). The cost for the evening was about what it cost to go to the movies and buy a bag of popcorn.
Then stagger back to the Imperial for a couple of $10 hold’em tournaments, with again, free beer.
This doesn’t downplay the problems of compulsive gamblers. But trying to outlaw behavior that tens of millions of people like to indulge in, has never worked.
You dont “love gambling” you are deep in addiction. Its gross. Stop acting like its a thing that is necessary in society. All it does is destroy peoples lives. Yours is next.
A ton of people bet on tennis. It’s one of the most rigged sports by criminal organizations around the world. Google it.
ChiSox – I just did, consider me enlightened now. Usually I see all the headlines, such as the chess cheating scandal, so I don’t know how I missed the tennis headlines.
I’m more shocked that people still get in trouble for lying. I thought that was expected…no, encouraged now. It’s a rite of passage for politicians.
“Do as I say….”
Nobody but himself thought further games in the MLB were in his future.
Apparently you haven’t read the comment sections here the last 3 years.
I have , actually. 3 years of article reading and he’s still not on an MLB roster.
Apparently you can’t comprehend what you read.
Ghost – What about Céspedes? You think he’ll be back in the majors?
Another great athlete:).
Probably
Booze, cigs and gambling are all much worse than anything America has banned over the years. We shouldnt be allowed to gamble money, its too stupid an addiction to put on people. It doesnt even make sense to start off with – just watch the f’n game or get a different hobby if you find the sport boring.
$$$
Moral grandstanding aside, this was actual criminal activity & not simply sports gambling. Just for anyone worried their fantasy baseball team is going to send them to prison.
“We shouldn’t be allowed to…”
I’mma have to stop you right there, dawg.
See, this is America, and that means I can do what I want.
😉
You are aware that Founding Father John Adams passed a law (Act) that prohibited free speech? It outlawed Americans criticizing their own government and/or its administration. It remained in place until he left office.
– 2nd US President, and co-signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams.
And Lincoln went even further than that during the Civil War.
My post was pretty clearly tongue-in-cheek anyway.
Ah, okay, I couldn’t see your face….
Stock market
insider trading by your friendly politicians
We shouldnt be allowed to gamble money,
====================================
Pretty much gotta disagree 100%.
1-There are probably 100M people in this country that buy the occasional lottery tickets, probably more. 50M Americans are in office pools. 60M play online poker. For the overwhelming majority of people, it is nothing more than
2-Not allowing people to do the things they want to do is what empowered the Mafia, and is destabilizing Mexico and S. America. And put a million or so Americans in the prison system.
Let them smoke, snort and hit the opium dens. Tax the crap out of the vices and use the tax money for free rehab.
Getting the government out of people’s private affairs is a great idea, but “sin taxes” never achieve their stated goal. After the massive overhead in the form of salaries, premium retirement plans, state of the art office furniture and equipment, travel and hotel expenses for junketts to seminars in Vegas and construction and maintenance of new office buildings to house an inflated workforce, there isn’t much $ remaining for all that “free rehab”. It simply transfers government growth from the enforcement bureaucracy to the revenue and rehab bureaucracy and benefits no one but public employees and their unions.
Forget the rehab, give to schools and roads
Schools & roads should be paid for by local taxes. That way, people think long and hard about how much they want their taxes raised. Once the taxes go into a pool, everyone will want new roads and new schools.
Besides, suburban public schools don’t need additional funding, and urban schools likely cannot be saved.
This little Puigy went to jail.
The Wolf blew his cover off his roof!!
Bad reputation now he’s never going to sign that contract with Braves or ever come back to America baseball.
This is connected to a ring busted here in Newport Beach. I have good friends in common with one of the guys who got busted. Let’s just say it wasn’t a surprise.
I live in CA. Our jails & prisons are beyond filled with the absolute most dangerous people & many-times repeat customers. Puig is quite far from an upstanding member of society but even if he were sentenced he would surely be released early.
America has well over 2 million people incarcerated, and probably another three that should be. What a country.
China has way more population and less prisoners.
And we complain about Chinese rights and freedoms.
Lol
Yeah, just an enslaved population, child labor, and endless human rights atrocities. If you really can’t see a difference, you are brainless
If you think the Chinese population is enslaved lol go to Shanghai … you’ll come back home thinking you’re airports roads bridges infrastructure trains are third world
So doing good work somehow makes up for everything else? Dumb
You actually believe the CCP’s stats on their prison population? It’s by far the most repressive regime on earth and has been since 1949, and it’s getting worse with surveillance literally everywhere. It’s literally a crime to speak out against the regime or advocate for individual liberty. “Re-education camps” throughout East Turkistan. as to your admiration of China’s infrastructure: bridges to nowhere and empty cities built because of classic government incompetency, especially a repressive government that ignores actual consumner demand in favor of consumer manipulation and mandates.
But the pay in China is third world
Yes. The human rights record of the United States is squeaky clean…take off those rosey lenses.
Can you show me where anyone said anything about the US being innocent?
Sometimes god makes mistakes with whom he endows with incredible athletic genetics.
Oh well
Some will say god doesn’t make mistakes. Some will say there is no god.
True. And some will say there are no mistakes 🙂
…and some will say there is no “there” there.
Hahaha. And he probably thought that KBO slash would get him back to the majors.
This is what he gets for betting on himself.
He shoulda stuck with the slots.
Of all the reasons why Puig could go to jail, I didn’t think lying about gambling being one of them.
Okay, yeah, I’m willing tp admit I was wrong about Puig.
Well that’s it’s for Puig. I hope he invested his millions wisely.
McGriff – Depends on whether you consider fast cars and faster women a wise investment.
Are there other ways to invest money?
Sounds like his millions will be or have been invested in lawyers.
Sounds like he went with a public defender.
And I thought this was his year for a comeback.
Based on the decisions he has made in his life up until this point. He’ll be begging for money in the streets of Miami in a couple years. Why a professional athlete feels the need to gamble away his earnings (remember opportunity cost) is beyond any sane person reason. And to lie to the federal government to top it off. God save him because I am not sure anyone can
Don’t worry bro. Nobody is coming to get you for your $85 fantasy “winnings”
So Puig and his lawyer agreed to interview with feds in Jan. ’22 and lied repeatedly during the process. Puig needed a better lawyer.
This only proves to me that Yasiel Puig is cool
You can’t fix stupid
You can if you go to school, And pay attention.
knowing math doesn’t help you learn common sense.
You’re confusing stupidity and ignorance, and unintentionally helping make my point.
Shocking, he seemed like such a great guy. Upstanding citizen and champion respecter of women.
Puig agreed to place hundreds of bets in an illicit gambling ring between May and September 2019. The U.S. Attorney indicates that Puig — then a member of the Reds and Indians — bet on football, tennis and basketball
==================================
“Agreed to place” is completely different than “placing”. I’d be curious which it was.
He ran bets through a bookie who then took it to his boss. It’s pretty clear in the DOJ release.
This reminds me of that What’s Happening episode when Rerun was caught bootlegging the Doobie Brothers and Patrick Simmons said with disappointment in his voice: “I thought you guys were our friends.”
@Donny,
And don’t forget how much trouble Rodg got when Dee told Momma.
It says on my board that I can’t see 7 comments because I muted somebody. I’ve never muted anybody ever in my life. I can fight my own battles and don’t need to mute anyone so if it’s you, believe me I didn’t do it.
Now as to Puig, Does this really surprise anyone? I know I’m amazed that it took him this long to do something stupid again. Well Played.
It’s just a bad look that MLB supports gambling and gambling apps at every opportunity. I’m not saying it correlates to Puig’s actions, but it all just seems hypocritical.
Von;
He should have held off for a few years……
I can’t turn on a sports event now where the aren’t advisements for sports gambling. Heck, even some sports talk radio outlets around the country have guests on breaking down bets for that days games. The one I like is where you pick how many K’s a starting pitcher will get that day. During the Phillies broadcasts they’ll show how the odds on a bet have changed during the game.
Is it Draft Kings that are the official something of a team or a league?
It’s people that gamble in rotisserie baseball leagues that along with Latin American and Caribbean players saved MLB.
Gambling is good for the popularity of any sport.
Just a plain and simple fact. It’s an extremely mutually beneficial relationship. One that is likely never going to end at this point.
Technically, all of us fantasy players are engaging in “illicit” gambling if we don’t list our winnings as income on our f1040. The Feds usually do their trivial busts just before the tax deadline to “encourage” people to do just that. If 10 million of us surrendered at IRS headquarters tomorrow, they would simply hire about 40,000 new agents, buy a bunch of sharp pencils and Macbooks and begin processing.
It might qualify as hypocritical if it was MLB that was prosecuting instead of the FBI.
Yea. I’m not speaking about Puig’s case in particular. But they run gambling ads followed by gambler’s anonymous ads. I understand it’s extremely good for business, but it’s a bit problematic in my eyes.
I agree, MLB promoting gambling and profiting from it is a problem for the image of the game, as it seems fans are increasingly interested in it mainly for that reason. But really that hasn’t got anything to do with the Puig situation.
I suppose that the Feds will soon be rounding up little old ladies for playing private bingo. If the State can’t tax it, you go to jail. “Lying to the FBI”? How about all the lying BY the FBI?
Wasn’t Puig the Guy in Ruthless People who the cops on the roof said” This might be the stupidest person on the face of the Earth. Maybe we should shoot him?”
Puig your friend
Any chance he had getting in the Hof is out the window. Didn’t he learn anything regarding Senor Pete Rose?? Tsk tsk tsk.
Von-No it doesn’t. What Puig did was illegal with a illicit gambling ring.one has nothing to with the Sports betting MLB is associated with.
It’s about time MLB and all the other Major sports get their fair share of all the millions of $$$ legal sports books make off wagering of their games.
The definition of “illicit” in this case, is simply gambling activity that isn’t taxed.
I understand your valid point, but I disagree. The line between illicit and legal gambling is paper thing. MLB now promotes gambling everywhere. We are given spreads and betting lines on MLB Network. More of this illicit gambling is going to happen as MLB continues to encourage widespread betting. I just think the two things should remain separate, but I understand the business reasons why that’ll never happen.
What a waste of immense talent. What I would give to have the talent he has. And I love this game.
he deserves another mlb shot. remember steve howe?
Sure he can be deported but what will stop him from walking back in?
Cuba isnt connected by water, racist.
I remember the guys that Puig paid to get him here in the US were after him for money he owed them. That guy Puig was something else.
Human traffickers need love too.
Yes Cuba is connected by water. Slow down and get your ideas together
i thought he did it. puig is u s citizen.
espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27386321/indians-puig-beco…
Compared to Puig, Pete Rose sounds like the guy who simply bought an instant scratch off game from the local lottery.
Rose bet on baseball.
Rose bet on games he actively had an impact on. I’m all for Rose getting in the HOF, but what he did was no small thing.
Without getting back into the whole HoF debate, the criteria for admission are really all about what’s good for the image of the game. They were designed to keep players who behave like Rose did out.
Pete Rose was under investigation for gambling since 1970. Bowie Kuhn chose to look away.
MLB chose to look away.
And thus, the final nail in Puig’s MLB coffin…
His personality was polarizing, but man he had a cannon for an arm. Raw talent. Unfortunate he couldn’t put it all together for a full career.
An immortal cement head.
Whilst Puig has admitted he has done something wrong, I find it curious and hypocritical that people are saying deport him, put him in jail etc etc, yet there are far worse criminal acts than what Puig has done, and what happens, sweet nothing. You can assault someone viciously in the USA and be allowed back on the streets in hours in many states, that’s just one example. It just does not pass the test, and in regard to what the FBI said, that “no one is above the law”, clearly there are people who may not be “above the law”, but the law is absolutely ridiculous that when you viciously assault people or do criminal damage/vandalism, and there you are back on the street in hours. It is a farce.
We really know nothing about the assault allegations, beyond the fact that none ever resulted in criminal charges being filed. Had he still been playing in MLB, he likely would have been suspended under the joint policy.
I wasn’t specifically referring to Puig’s alleged assault case, and that’s my error for not clarifying same. I was referring to other people who you see batter other races in many different states and they get a slap on the wrist and are out in hours after the incident has taken place.
As a rule someone has to file a complaint for an investigation to occur, and that’s often a problem in cases such as these.
Funny what the FEDs prioritize as being a menace to society. I have never been as sad as where I see America headed.
I doubt it was a high priority but it’s a federal crime. There’s more than just one case being investigated at the FBI
They really should go easy on him. He is incredibly stupid. He’s proven it time after time. No one can argue that this guy isn’t an idiot and he should be treated as such in the court of law. It’s an easy defense. While it’s not a good enough one to avoid jail time it should be just enough to avoid a lengthy sentence. Instead of sending him to prison they should send him to a mental hospital.
Good thing he didn’t bet on baseball, now he has a shot at the Hall
He’ll be hired by Van Jones as a community organizer.
This story is rich. Of all the people, including power brokers in DC that have lied to the FBI, this guy gets charged? The FBI is the biggest joke of a law enforcement Agency.
Poor guy.
Sounds.like his.life and his.mind are really screwing up.
Life.can.be so terrible of a nightmare…..
Most of you people don’t know…..
It’s sad. Very, very sad.
I danced for joy when we finally got rid of that moron. One of the most overrated players of all time.
good player, mid person. well worth the hype though
yall saying “deport” but yall forget he’s playing foreign ball so like yeah and to the one dude saying deport bauer, bro has a full on citizenship here…. also pete rose did gambling aswell,, we all gamble in some shape or form when betting on something does that mean we should deport you?
Puig became a U.S. citizen in 2019, so he can’t be deported. Also, he wasn’t charged for the gambling but for lying to federal investigators about who was taking his bets. Why he did that is unclear, but he’s always been sort of a man-child so maybe he just didn’t understand the implications.
Sports gambling is legal in 50% of US states? Should be legal country wide like in Canada. He never betted on baseball. I dont think he committed a crime at all, certainly not a “bad or evil one.”
Politicians lie all the time. Hope to see him in MLB again but cant see it happening now. Other players have domestic violence crimes but they can play and Puig cant.
Another tragic tale of self destruction. I’m just glad he’s not under contract with any ML team. Nobody deserves that PR nightmare.