Earlier this year, former Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Yasiel Puig was charged with obstruction of justice and providing false statements to investigators related to bets he placed on sporting events through an illegal gambling operation.
Federal prosecutors are now requesting that Puig serve 18 months in prison and pay hefty fines for his actions, via Sam Blum of The Athletic:
In a brief filed with the Central District of California, prosecutors are requesting that Puig serve 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. They also requested that he pay $55,200 in fines.
“A low-end Guidelines range sentence avoids unwarranted sentencing disparities and sends a message that the cost of deliberating lying to federal investigators and obstructing justice is not insignificant and will result in a non-trivial sentence,” prosecutors wrote in the brief.
Despite being convicted of the two counts on Feb. 6, Puig has remained free up to this point and recently began playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Canadian Baseball League. He went viral for hitting two home runs in his debut earlier this week.
Puig’s sentencing is now set for May 26 in Los Angeles. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Puig’s defense has argued that he attempted to cooperate with the government fully but did not understand the line of questioning due to a language barrier and cognitive issues.
Yasiel Puig’s Dodgers career
Over parts of six seasons with the Dodgers, Puig hit .279/.353/.478 with 129 doubles, 19 triples, 108 home runs and 331 RBI in 712 games. He finished second in 2013 National League Rookie of the Year voting and made his only All-Star Game appearance the following season.
The Dodgers traded Puig to the Cincinnati Reds after the 2018 season. He appeared in 100 games with the club before he was traded to the Cleveland Indians at the non-waiver deadline that year. That wound up being his final stop in MLB.
Since then, Puig has played for the Toros del Este of the Dominican Winter League, El Aguila de Veracruz of the Mexican League, the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), and the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Winter League. His stint with the Maple Leafs lasted only about two weeks.
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