Former Major League Baseball player Yasiel Puig has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge for lying to law enforcement officials about sports bets he made with an illegal gambling operator, according to documents unsealed Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Puig, who now plays professionally in South Korea, will plead guilty to one count of making false statements, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. He also agreed to pay a fine of at least $55,000.
Puig will make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Tuesday.
According to his plea agreement filed on Aug. 29, Puig — who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland during a seven-year MLB career from 2013 to ’19 — began placing bets on sporting events in May 2019 through a third party who worked for an illegal gambling operation run by Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player.