The former MLB star has announced that he has withdrawn his agreement to plead guilty to lying to federal agents
Yasiel Puig, a former MLB player, has backed out of his agreement to plead guilty to lying to law enforcement officials about an ongoing illegal sports betting operation.
A statement given by his attorneys in LA on Wednesday states this is due to new evidence that has surfaced.
Puig changes his plea to not guilty
Yasiel Puig said in a statement that he wants to clear his name because he never committed the crime he pleaded guilty to.
In mid-November, due to pleading guilty to a count of lying to federal agents last January, Puig was looking to face up to five years in prison and a fine of at least $55,000, although he was still qualified for probation.
Puig’s attorney said that at the time of his Zoom interview in January 2022, he had mental health problems and no legal counsel specializing in crimes. He further stressed that the ex-MLB star just has a third-grade education. According to the attorney, there’s new information that has caused them to think about the lying allegations made against the sports star.
Former MLB star pleads guilty to lying to federal agents
Yasiel Puig, in August, made a plea agreement where he acknowledged that he had collected over $280,000 in losses by betting on various tennis, basketball, and football games.
His sports bets were placed with third parties who were part of a bigger, secret gambling operation run by a former league baseball player, Wayne Nix.
Yasiel Puig is said to have placed at least nine hundred bets and had agreed previously to plead guilty for lying to federal law agents in January who were actively investigating the illegal gambling operation.
Nix was found guilty in April. He had been running the illegal sports gambling operation for at least twenty years with a few other athlete clients like Erik KristianHiljuis, a former MLB player as well, who pleaded guilty to two counts of false tax returns.
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