Yasiel Puig Pleads Guilty to Felony Charge After Placing Over 899 Illegal Sports Bets
Former Major League Baseball outfielder Yasiel Puig has pleaded guilty to a federal charge for lying to federal law enforcement officials about bets he placed on sporting events in an illegal gambling operation, the United States Department of Justice announced Monday evening.
Puig agreed to plead guilty to one count of making false statements, a crime that carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Puig, currently playing in South Korea, has agreed to pay a fine of at least $55,000. Puig will appear in front of the United States District Court Tuesday.
Puig placed bets on sporting events through a third party, identified as 'Agent 1', who worked for an illegal gambling business run by Wayne Joseph Nix.
Puig engaged in text messages and phone calls with Agent 1 to place bets on Puig's behalf. Agent 1 placed the bets through Nix's illegal gambling business.
By June 2019, Puig owed Nix's business $292,000 in sports gambling losses. After Puig paid off his losses, Nix provided Puig direct access to betting websites Nix controlled, in which Puig placed an additional 899 bets on tennis, football and basketball games through the websites.
In a January 2022 interview with federal investigators, Puig lied several times.
Puig has not appeared in a Major League game since 2019, when he was a member of the Cleveland Indians. It appears he will not appear in another one, and his big league career is now over.
For more information, read the full press release from the Department of Justice.
For more from Jack Vita, follow him on Twitter @JackVitaShow, and subscribe to his podcast, the Jack Vita Show, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and wherever podcasts are found.
