Former Major League Baseball outfielder Yasiel Puig was convicted Friday on federal charges related to an illegal sports gambling case, potentially facing up to 20 years in prison. The verdict, announced by the U.S. Attorneys Office, followed a trial where Puig was found guilty of obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators.
The trial, which lasted nearly two weeks, included testimony from MLB officials and Donny Kadokawa, a Hawaii baseball coach connected to Puig and the illegal gambling operation, according to Fox News. Puig, 35, played for three major league teams, with the majority of his career spent with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has not played in an MLB game since 2019. His sentencing is scheduled for May 26, as reported by Fox News.
In November 2022, Puig was initially set to plead guilty to lying about his involvement in sports betting, but he withdrew from the plea deal less than two weeks later, stating he "never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit," according to CBS News. A Los Angeles judge later determined the deal was not binding because it was not formally entered in court.
In other news, the stepbrother of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was found dead aboard a Carnival Cruise ship in November, was arrested and charged this week in connection with the case, according to Anna Kepner's father, who is the step-father of the suspect, as reported by ABC News. The stepbrother was released to the custody of a guardian. The family of Anna Kepner will remember her as a happy, bubbly, straight-A student with a bright future ahead, according to ABC News.
Additionally, actor Timothy Busfield was indicted by a grand jury on child sex abuse contact charges after his arrest last month in New Mexico, according to officials, as reported by ABC News. Busfield is facing multiple counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, according to Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman. "District Attorney Sam Bregman emphasized that protecting children remains a top priority for his office," the district attorney's office said in a statement Friday, according to ABC News.
Finally, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Friday that it suspended more than 100,000 California borrowers amid suspected fraud, with the alleged abuse totaling nearly $9 billion. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the agency suspended 111,620 California borrowers tied to suspected fraudulent activity across SBA pandemic-era loan programs. Those borrowers received 118,489 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans totaling more than $8.6 billion, according to Fox News.
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