A jury found former MLB player Yasiel Puig guilty of obstructing justice and lying to federal agents investigating an illegal betting operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
The verdict came after a weeks-long trial that featured testimony from MLB officials and Donny Kadokawa, a Hawaiian baseball manager through whom Puig placed bets. Puig now faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 26.
Puig’s attorney, Keri Curtis Axel, said the government failed to prove key elements of her case and she plans to file motions after the trial.
“We look forward to clearing Yasiel’s name,” Ms Axel said.
Puig, 35, initially pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to federal agents investigating an illegal betting operation. He admitted in a plea agreement reached in August 2022 to racking up more than $280,000 in losses in a few months in 2019 by betting on tennis, football and basketball games through a third party who worked for an illegal betting operation run by Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player.
Nix pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and filing a false tax return. He is still awaiting his judgment.
Authorities said Puig placed at least 900 bets through betting websites controlled by Nix and through a man who worked for Nix.
The government argued that it intentionally misled federal investigators. He played audio clips of Puig speaking English in court and called expert witnesses to testify about Puig’s cognitive abilities, the New York Times reported.
His lawyers said Puig suffered from untreated mental illness and did not have an interpreter or lawyer by his side during the interview with federal investigators in which he allegedly lied.
Puig’s former attorney, Steven Gebelin, testified that during the January 2022 interview, Puig tried to help investigators by answering their questions and that the interpreter had difficulty understanding Puig’s Spanish dialect, according to the Times.
Puig hit for a .277 average with 132 home runs and 415 RBIs in seven MLB seasons, the first six with the Dodgers. He was selected for the All-Star Game in 2014.
date: 2026-02-07 17:29:00
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