Two Cuban baseball players on Tuesday told a US federal jury that they paid tens of thousands of US dollars from signing bonuses with Major League Baseball teams to a smuggling network that prosecutors say was overseen by a Florida sports agent and his trainer associate.
The players, Jorge Padron and Reinier Roibal, described how they were spirited off the communist-run island on speedboats bound for Cancun, Mexico, where they trained while awaiting documents necessary to go to the US to sign lucrative free-agent contracts.
They told jurors about payments the smugglers made to a Mexican criminal organization, which prosecutors have identified as the Zetas drug cartel, and the violent disappearance of one of the smuggling ring’s leaders, Joan “Nacho” Garcia.
The testimony came in the trial of agent Bartolo Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada, who face lengthy prison sentences if convicted of conspiracy and immigrant smuggling charges.
Roibal is a pitcher who signed with the San Francisco Giants for US$425,000 in 2010, but is now with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He said Garcia met him in Cancun in late 2009 and took him to meet with Hernandez.
In Cuba, he was making about US$20 per month playing baseball.
“He was going to help me obtain that opportunity I was looking for,” Roibal, speaking through an interpreter, said of the man he knew as “Nacho.”
Asked what that opportunity was, he added: “Well, play baseball and give my family a better financial situation.”
Roibal said he paid about US$170,000 to the smuggling operation, including 5 percent for Hernandez, out of his Giants contract.
Padron, who was also transported to Mexico by boat from Cuba, said he signed with the Boston Red Sox for US$350,000 in March 2010.
Of that, Padron said about US$140,000 went to the smuggling operation, including percentages for Hernandez and Estrada.
Padron, an outfielder and first baseman, never made it out of the minor leagues and was later released by the Red Sox.
Much of the players’ testimony focused on third-country residency documents they needed in order to sign with US baseball team, which prosecutors said contained numerous falsehoods.
They had to show they no longer lived in Cuba — where they were restricted by the US economic embargo — and that they were eligible to sign as free agents rather than going into the MLB draft for less money.
For example, on Mexican residency papers Padron’s occupation was listed as “independent tinsmith,” a job he testified in the trial that he never held.
For Roibal, it was “independent welder.”
The Cuban players frequently laughed about the jobs that appeared on papers bearing their names, Padron said.
Lawyers for Hernandez and Estrada earlier told jurors they both ran legitimate baseball businesses and were not engaged in Cuban player smuggling or falsifying of official documents. It was unclear if either will testify.
The trial is scheduled to last several more weeks.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or