Ex-Dodger Yasiel Puig convicted of federal charges in sports gambling case

Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig faces up to 15 years in prison after he was convicted Friday of federal charges in an illegal sports gambling case.

Puig, 35, was found guilty of obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators following a nearly two-week trial in downtown Los Angeles. 

In November 2022, prosecutors said that Puig was set to plead guilty to lying about his involvement in sports betting, but he withdrew from that plea deal less than two weeks later, stating that he “never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”

A Los Angeles judge said that the deal was not binding because it was not formally entered in court. He was initially set to plead guilty to a single count of lying to federal authorities, was eligible for probation and was to pay a fine of at least $55,000 before he withdrew.

In February 2023, he pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his case was sent to trial. Puig is now scheduled to be sentenced on May 26.  

The case against Puig comes from a 2017 investigation into an illegal gambling business being orchestrated by former professional baseball player Wayne Nix, who also awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and subscribing to a false tax return in 2022. 

While investigators were looking into Nix, they found that Puig began placing bets on games starting in May of 2019 through one of Nix’s associates.

A news release from the U.S. Department of Justice says that Puig owed Nix’s business nearly $283,000 in gambling losses within a month. They also showed that between July and September of that year, he had placed 899 bets on various sports through a website associated with Nix. Some of his wagers were placed on tennis, football, and basketball games, but it was never noted whether he bet on baseball. 

During a 90-minute interview with federal investigators in 2022, which was held via video conference with his legal team, Puig denied knowing Nix’s gambling business and his associates. Prosecutors said that despite being warned that lying to federal agents is a crime, he lied several times. 

In a WhatsApp message sent to a friend two months later, Puig admitted to “lying to federal agents and to obstructing their grand jury investigation during his interview,” federal prosecutors said. They also argued that he lied on a U.S. government immigration form and while under oath during his naturalization interview in 2019, when he stated he had never been engaged in illegal gambling.

Attorneys argued that Puig, who they said has a third-grade education, also had “untreated mental issues, and did not have his own interpreter or criminal legal counsel with him.” 

The false statement charge carries a possible sentence of up to five years in prison, while the obstruction of justice charge carries up to 10-years imprisonment, prosecutors noted.

“Puig remains free on his own personal recognizance,” said the DOJ’s news release.

Puig signed with the Dodgers in 2012 after defecting from his home country of Cuba. He played in six seasons with the Boys in Blue before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2019. He was traded again later that season to the Cleveland Guardians. It was his last season with Major League Baseball, after he missed the shortened 2020 season. 

Most recently, he has played with the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO League in South Korea and El Águila de Veracruz in the Mexican League.