Inside The Dodgers

Former Dodgers Star Yasiel Puig Set to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges

Former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig is pleading guilty on charges of lying to federal investigators about his dealings with an illegal gambling operation.

Jeff J. Snider

Former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig is in legal trouble again, this time related to sports betting. Puig will appear in federal court on Tuesday to plead guilty to a charge of lying to federal law enforcement officers about his involvement with an illegal gambling operation.

According to the press release from U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, Puig ran up gambling debts of nearly $300,000 to an illegal gambling business run by Wayne Joseph Nix in 2019. In early 2022, Puig was interviewed by federal investigators with his attorney present, during which interviews he was advised that lying was a federal crime but he lied several times anyway.

According to the report, Puig sent a message to one of the people involved in March of this year in which he admitted lying to the investigators.

The charges against Puig carry a maximum sentence of up to five years in federal prison. Puig has reportedly agreed to pay a $55,000 fine, although it's unclear at this point what else is involved in his agreement to plead guilty, so the question of prison time is currently unanswered.

"Under our system of justice, no one is above the law," Estrada said in the statement. "The integrity of our nation's criminal justice system depends on people telling the truth, and those who fail to abide by this simple principal [sic] must face consequences."

Puig played this season in the Korean Baseball Organization, making it to the Korea Series with the Kiwoom Heroes. He hasn't played in Major League Baseball since 2019, and while he has stated his desire to come back to MLB soon, this latest legal drama seems like it might put a damper on that dream.

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Jeff J. Snider
JEFF J. SNIDER

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. He's been blogging about baseball and the Dodgers since 2004 and doing it professionally since 2015. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

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