On the eve of the start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, then Shohei Ohtani interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was indicted in California for stealing nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star to fund his gambling addiction. Reverberations from that scandal surfaced Friday in federal court 3,000 miles away.
As ESPN reported, gambler Luis de Aza Baez testified during the trial of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz that information about what pitches Clase, the Guardians’ star reliever, would throw halted during the 2024 season because his liaison to Clase told him Mizuhara’s case put betting under the spotlight. Mizuhara, who pled guilty, is currently serving a 57-month sentence in a Pennsylvania federal prison.
Clase and Ortiz are charged with four federal counts in a case in which they are accused of throwing rigged pitches and sharing information about the pitches with bettors. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY). De Aza Baez told the jury he had “insider information” that allowed him to win thousands of dollars by betting on the speed of Clase’s pitches.
Witness sheds light on purported code
De Aza Baez’s testimony provided insight about the use of the words “roosters” and “chickens” in texts between Clase and others that federal prosecutors said were code. Clase has argued in briefs that he was referring to cockfighting, which is prevalent in his home country of the Dominican Republic. De Aza Baez said he never got information directly from Clase, but from a liaison, Enoc Pena.
From the ESPN story, “Prosecutors showed a screenshot of a text message Clase allegedly sent to Pena on Sept. 30, 2023, when the Guardians were scheduled to play the Detroit Tigers, that talked about ‘killing the first two chickens.’ De Aza Baez said the message was instructions to bet on a Clase pitch to the third batter of an inning, but only if Clase had retired the first two batters. Clase did not appear in the game.”
De Aza Baez revealed that he met Clase in a Boston suburb during a birthday party that Pena brought him to. He said he was testifying in exchange for the government dropping a wire fraud charge against him.
Info shared in ‘Uber, Inc.’ group chat
De Aza Baez said the gamblers all met in Nantucket, Massachusetts, became friends, and shared information about Clase’s pitches and betting via a group text called “Uber, Inc.,” as some of the people involved with the case worked for the ride-share company.
Another government witness, Edward Canario, also testified Friday, saying he got tips from co-defendant Luis Arismendy Paca Méndez and shared proceeds with winning bets with Paca Mendez. Like de Aza Baez, Canario said he was testifying as part of an agreement he made with the government.
The trial, which started last Monday, is on a five-day break and will resume Thursday. While former Guardians catcher Bo Naylor testified out of order Thursday, the government continues to present its case. Prosecutors estimate it will take 15 days to present the case.
LeForbes makes another plea for probation
Ahead of a Dec. 10 sentencing date, the attorney for Damien LeForbes filed a brief Thursday, again requesting that the court not impose a four-level role adjustment in his sentencing. LeForbes pled guilty in 2024 to operating an illegal gambling business and transactional money laundering through late 2023. LeForbes and federal prosecutors filed a joint brief in mid-October in favor of LeForbes being sentenced to probation. At that time, Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani continued sentencing from early November to Dec. 10.
In the latest filing, attorney Richard A. Schonfeld writes that “an enhancement cannot be applied unless the government proves its factual basis by a preponderance of the evidence or the defendant admitted the supporting conduct in the plea agreement.” He goes on to cite case law, and argues that the threshold has not been met.
The brief also addresses a previous pretrial violation. LeForbes, a professional poker player, traveled to Dallas to “retrieve $300,000 in cash” for use in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Under the terms of his probation, he is free to play poker and got clearance to travel to Las Vegas for the event. However, LeForbes failed to get approval to travel to Dallas to collect funds. Following that incident, LeForbes admitted his wrongdoing and also “recognized” that his involvement in professional poker “was, in fact, gambling addiction.” He has since received gambling addiction counseling, attends Gamblers Anonymous, and has found other employment.
As in the joint brief with prosecutors filed in October, Schonfeld requests LeForbes be sentenced to four months of home confinement, continued one-on-one therapy, weekly Gamblers Anonymous attendance, a gambling ban, and 50 hours of community service to be completed during the first year of probation.
In other betting scandal news …
- Basketball player Ed Davis, a co-defendant in Malik Beasley’s illegal wagering case, signaled on Friday his plans to change his plea to guilty. Per an entry on the court docket, the judge overseeing the case referred Davis’ change-of-plea hearing to a magistrate judge. Davis is a former University of North Carolina forward and a first-round draft pick by the Toronto Raptors in 2010. He is charged with four federal counts, including wire fraud conspiracy and bribery.
- Last Tuesday, EDNY prosecutors filed a motion opposing former NBA player Terry Rozier’s and co-defendant DeNiro Laster’s request to sever their trials. The defendants argue that Rozier will have to prove DeNiro’s guilt in order to prove Rozier’s innocence, but prosecutors wrote “Rozier’s defense theory — that he exited the March 23, 2023 National Basketball Association (‘NBA’) game (the ‘March 23 Game’) because of an injury and not as part of a predetermined plan — essentially amounts to an argument that no crime occurred here.” Rozier’s and Lasters’ trial is set to begin Feb. 8, 2027 in EDNY.
