NEW YORK (AP) — Cleveland Guardians star pitcher Emmanuel Clase pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win bets on his pitches.
The 27-year-old reliever was released on $600,000 bond following his appearance in Brooklyn federal court. Clase also surrendered his passport and was ordered to limit his travel to New York and Ohio, refrain from gambling and submit to GPS monitoring.
The three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year was arrested and taken into custody earlier Thursday at John F. Kennedy Airport after arriving on a flight from his native Dominican Republic, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Clase, dressed in a dark blazer and jeans, didn’t speak in court other than to answer the judge’s “yes” or “no” questions through a Spanish interpreter. He didn’t comment to reporters after the proceedings.
Clase’s Guardians teammate Luis Ortiz, who was also implicated in the alleged scheme, pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Both are due back in court Dec. 2.
The two pitchers have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July, when MLB began investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when they pitched.
According to prosecutors, the two accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to help two unnamed gamblers in their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of their pitches.
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They allege that Clase, who is on the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract, began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023, but didn’t ask for payoffs until earlier this year.
Prosecutors say Clase often threw the rigged pitches on the first pitch of an at-bat, making sure to throw the ball in the dirt and well outside the strike zone in order to assure the umpire called it a ball rather than a strike.
During an April game against the Boston Red Sox, Clase even spoke to one of the betters by phone just before taking the mound, prosecutors contend. Minutes later, the bettor and his associates won $11,000 on a wager that Clase would toss a certain pitch slower than 97.95 mph (157.63 kph).
Prosecutors say Clase recruited Ortiz to join the scheme earlier this year and sometimes provided money to the gamblers to fund the bets.
Clase’s lawyer Michael Ferrara noted in court Thursday that the Guardians’ all-time saves leader voluntarily returned to the U.S. to answer to the charges rather than make prosecutors seek extradition.
“His actions speak louder than words. He poses no risk of flight,” Ferrara said as the judge weighed the conditions of Clase’s release. “He intends to stay through this.”
In an earlier statement, Ferrara said Clase maintains his innocence.
“Emmanuel Clase has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win,” he said in a Wednesday statement.
Chris Georgalis, a lawyer for Ortiz, has also denied the charges, saying payments between his client and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for legal activities.
Clase and Ortiz are each charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. The top charges carry a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
Following the pitchers’ indictments, Major League Baseball announced new limits on betting on individual pitches.
The charges against Clase and Ortiz are the latest gambling scandals to roil American professional sports following the landmark 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting in most states.
Last month, more than 30 people, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in a gambling sweep that involved leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.
