Former Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis L. Ortiz on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to four federal conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from an investigation into his and former teammate Emmanuel Clase’s alleged involvement in a scheme to manipulate pitch outcomes for gamblers.
Ortiz was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering conspiracy. Clase is scheduled to be arraigned on the same charges on Thursday, but has not yet surrendered to authorities.
Both Ortiz, 26, and Clase, 27, face upward of 65 years in prison, as three of the counts with which they are charged call for 20-year maximums. Their cases are the first in which the “Bribery in Sports Contests” statute has been applied in a professional sports betting scandal in the United States. That statute did not exist until 1964, decades after the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox plot to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.
Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo released Ortiz on a $500,000 bond, with his wife as suretor. Ortiz must provide an additional suretor and property by next week to secure the bond, however.
Marutollo ordered Ortiz not to engage in any form of gambling, and subjected him to location monitoring. His travel is restricted to New York City, Long Island, Massachusetts, and Ohio.
Ortiz’s next court appearance is a status conference on Dec. 2 before U.S. District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto.
Details of Ortiz, Clase allegations
Ortiz and Clase — the latter of whom amassed a league-best 133 saves from 2022-2024 and finished third in Cy Young balloting in 2024 — are accused of “pitch-fixing,” or intentionally manipulating the speed or ball/strike locations in multiple games for the benefit of gamblers, which included themselves. Ortiz, according to the indictment, which was unsealed Sunday, was recruited into the scheme by Clase in June. On numerous occasions, according to the indictment, Clase directed which pitches Ortiz should manipulate.
Ortiz is 16-22 with a 4.05 ERA in 75 games — 50 as a starter — in four Major League Baseball seasons.
Involved in the first publicly acknowledged MLB outcome-manipulation case since the 1919 “Black Sox,” Ortiz and Clase are considered highly likely to never play in MLB again. The league has not released findings of its investigation, however, and not issued punishments since a mid-summer agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association that placed the pitchers on administrative leave.
Ortiz appeared in federal court on Monday and was released on a $500,000 bond.
In his first season with Cleveland in 2025, Ortiz earned $782,600, according to Sportrac. He was set to collect around $820,000 next year as he remained under team control and was pre-arbitration-eligible. He’s earned around $1.5 million in his MLB career.
According to the indictment, Ortiz earned around $12,000 for his parts in rigging pitches and providing insider information. On one occasion, Clase allegedly ordered Ortiz through a text message to explain a gambling-payoff wire transfer as a payment for the purchase of a horse. Bettors allegedly yielded $50,000 through Ortiz’s actions.
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