Yasiel Puig’s Illegal Gambling Trial Begins in LA, Former Dodgers Star Faces Up to 20 Years in Jail

The trial against former Los Angeles Dodgers player Yasiel Puig is underway in LA, with the Cuban facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted of three charges related to illegal gambling.

Puig is accused of placing wagers with illegal bookie Wayne Nix, accumulating losses of almost $300,000 in 2019. He has not been charged for the unlawful betting, however. Instead, he is facing charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements.

His agent, Lisette Carnet, clarified, “Yasiel Puig was not the target of the government’s investigation; he was asked by the government to be a witness against the gambling organizers and others.”

He is also not accused of betting on baseball or match-fixing, but placed his wagers on tennis, football, and basketball games. While illegal, prosecutors have pursued charges against Nix and other illegal bookmakers rather than individual bettors.

Puig Faces Heavier Charges With No Plea Deal

Puig agreed to a plea deal in 2022, informing prosecutors he would plead guilty to one charge of making false statements, which carried a maximum prison sentence of five years.

However, he later backed out of this deal, claiming he was pressured into admitting guilt. He stated, “I want to clear my name. I never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”

He now risks a heavier sentence, with each charge of making false statements carrying a maximum prison term of five years, while the obstruction of justice charge could carry a maximum prison term of 10 years.

He was seen leaving court on Tuesday looking upbeat, but did not make any public comments on the case.

One ‘Rushed’ Interview Landed Puig in Trouble

Carnet says the charges relate to one rushed interview Puig had with investigators over Zoom in January 2022. She claims the interview was unfair, conducted without Puig being prepared, with no interpreter, and without legal counsel.

After Puig withdrew his plea deal, she told the New York Post, “He came to the interview feeling rushed, unprepared, without criminal counsel with him, and also lacked his own interpreter.”

She also said his Cuban upbringing and ADHD made the interview more challenging, adding, “Given his history growing up in authoritarian Cuba, government interviews are triggering and only worsen his ADHD symptoms and other mental health struggles, for which he is in treatment. He would have benefited from this care at the time of the interview.”

In the trial, prosecutors will argue Puig was well aware he was lying to investigators and admitted as such in an audio message to an associate after the interview. The court will hear the audio of this.

It is unclear if the former MLB player continued gambling after 2019. He was traded from the Dodgers to Cleveland that year, before finishing his career playing in South Korea and Mexico. On Tuesday, a jury was selected on the first day of the trial, which is expected to last eight or nine days.

Illegal Bookie Associates Face Criminal Charges

The bookie at the center of the case, Nix, pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business in 2022. He was due to be sentenced last year, but the sentencing has been delayed.

The investigation against him and other California bookies, including Mathew Bowyer, has led to several criminal prosecutions. Nix’s accountant, William Fulton, was also charged with making false statements to investigators.

Fulton accepted a deal in his case, pleading guilty to one charge. A judge last year sentenced him to a suspended one-year prison term and ordered him to pay a fine of $673,290. If he had stuck with his plea deal, Puig may have faced a similar punishment.

In addition, casinos where Nix gambled the proceeds of his illegal operation have also faced heavy penalties. Last year, MGM Resorts agreed to pay an $8.5 million fine to the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) for allowing Nix and others to launder money at its properties.

Resorts World ($10.5 million), Caesars ($7.8 million), and Wynn Resorts ($5.5 million) paid similar penalties for allowing illegal bookies to gamble at their casinos in Las Vegas.

Criminal Cases Continue

There continues to be considerable fallout from Nix’s gambling operation, which allegedly ran for over 20 years. High-stakes gambler RJ Cipriani filed a civil lawsuit against Resorts World Las Vegas, parent company Genting Berhad, and several staff members last month.

Cipriani claims he alerted the casino to Nix’s illicit activities, as well as other illegal bookies. Rather than taking action, he says the casino persecuted him by drumming up false charges.

Other illegal California bookies named in the lawsuit include Bowyer, who was sentenced to a year in prison last year for his illegal gambling operation.

Bowyer’s sentence was reduced after he assisted in the case against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, his client, who stole $17.5 million from the Dodgers player to gamble with Bowyer. Mizuhara received a harsher punishment of 57 months in prison for the theft.

Ohtani and Puig were never with the Dodgers at the same time, with the Japanese star joining in 2024, well after Puig had departed.