Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on a host of charges tied to allegedly rigging pitches thrown during Major League Baseball games, according to a 23-page indictment unsealed Sunday at a Brooklyn, N.Y., courthouse.<\/p>\n
The two have been on paid leave from the league since July and now face charges of wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy related to a scheme to predetermine certain pitches that netted bettors hundreds of thousands in winnings.<\/p>\n
Ortiz was arrested Sunday in Boston and will appear in court Monday. Clase was not in custody as of early Sunday afternoon; he is out of the country, according to a law enforcement source.<\/p>\n
If convicted on all charges, the pitchers face up to 65 years in prison: 20 years for wire fraud conspiracy, 20 years for honest services wire fraud conspiracy, five years for conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and 20 years for money laundering conspiracy.<\/p>\n
The activity allegedly began with Clase in or around May 2023. Ortiz joined in around June 2025. According to the indictment, Clase\u2019s conspirators totaled more than $400,000 in winnings. Ortiz\u2019s totaled more than $60,000.<\/p>\n
Clase allegedly coordinated with the co-conspirators on occasion during MLB games. The investigation found he often threw the rigged pitches on the first pitch of an at-bat, and typically well outside the strike zone, even in the dirt, to ensure the pitch would not be called a strike. He sometimes received \u201cbribes and kickbacks from the bettors,\u201d the document reads, and \u201csometimes provided money to the bettors in advance to fund the scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortiz allegedly colluded with co-conspirators before his starts on June 15 and June 27 to throw pre-determined balls. According to the indictment, the bettors agreed to pay Ortiz $12,000 for throwing the rigged pitches, and Clase $12,000 for arranging the ploy. Clase withdrew $50,000 in cash before the June 27 contest and sent $15,000 to a co-conspirator to wager on Ortiz\u2019s pre-determined pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs alleged, the defendants sold that trust to gamblers by fixing pitches,\u201d said Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement. \u201cIn doing so, the defendants deprived the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball of their honest services. They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed. And they betrayed America\u2019s pastime. Integrity, honesty and fair play are part of the DNA of professional sports. When corruption infiltrates the sport, it brings disgrace not only to the participants but damages the public trust in an institution that is vital and dear to all of us. Today\u2019s charges make clear that our Office will continue to vigorously prosecute those who corrupt sports through illegal means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clase\u2019s agent, Michael Ferrara, said, \u201cEmmanuel Clase has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The league provided the following statement: \u201cMLB contacted federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and has fully cooperated throughout the process. We are aware of the indictment and today\u2019s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortiz\u2019s attorney, Chris Georgalis, sent the following statement to\u00a0The Athletic: \u201cLuis Ortiz is innocent of the charges related to two pitches he threw. He has never, and would never, improperly influence a game \u2014 not for anyone and not for anything. Luis is and always has been a fierce competitor. He has always given his best effort in every inning of every game. Those who have played with him know this. And the government\u2019s investigation, including discussions with Luis\u2019 teammates, supports this as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Luis\u2019 defense team extensively explained and documented to the government before these charges were brought, Luis\u2019 payments and other transfers of money between him and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for lawful activities. Notably, the indictment completely lacks any alleged evidence connecting Luis to these alleged bettors or demonstrating any purposeful involvement in a scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games with every pitch and in every inning. Luis looks forward to fighting these charges in court. The government\u2019s case is weak and circumstantial. He will defend himself, and he will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a rapid fall from grace for Clase, 27, who was recently the preeminent closer in baseball, a Cy Young Award finalist and perennial All-Star. The Guardians were banking on Ortiz, 26, becoming a staple of their rotation after they acquired him from the Pittsburgh Pirates last December.<\/p>\n
The investigation began in late June, when the Ohio Casino Control Commission was alerted to irregular betting activity on certain prop bets tied to Ortiz\u2019s outings. On July 3, MLB and the players\u2019 union agreed to place Ortiz on non-disciplinary paid leave while the league examined whether Ortiz was dictating the outcome of certain pitches in alignment with those particular betting patterns.<\/p>\n
Clase joined his teammate on non-disciplinary paid leave July 28, three days before the trade deadline. The Guardians had been fielding trade offers for their closer, multiple league sources told The Athletic. When he was placed on paid leave, Clase became ineligible to be traded.<\/p>\n
The league assured the Guardians at that time that no additional players or club personnel \u201cwere expected to be impacted\u201d by the investigation. The league continued to extend the absences of Ortiz and Clase, first through the end of August and then indefinitely.<\/p>\n
The Guardians provided the following statement: \u201cWe are aware of the recent law enforcement action. We will continue to fully cooperate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rule 21d(2) in the MLB handbook states: \u201cAny player, umpire or club or league official or employee who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rule 21d(3) states: \u201cAny player, umpire or club or league official or employee who places bets with illegal bookmakers or agents for illegal bookmakers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those rules are posted in every MLB clubhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we do a great job of informing,\u201d Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said in late July. \u201cAs a player, you know exactly what the parameters are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a question of people not knowing the rules,\u201d Guardians president Chris Antonetti said.<\/p>\n
The Athletic has a commercial partnership with BetMGM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on a host of charges tied to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":368736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1282,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-368735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cleveland-guardians","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115524324910717588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}