Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have charged Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz and Luis Leandro Ortiz Ribera in a sweeping sports betting and money laundering conspiracy.
According to an indictment unsealed Sunday in the Eastern District of New York, Clase and Ortiz conspired with corrupt sports bettors to manipulate pitch outcomes in multiple Major League Baseball games between 2023 and 2025. Prosecutors allege the pair agreed to throw specific pitches — slower sliders or intentional balls — after receiving bribes, allowing bettors to place winning “prop” and “parlay” bets using insider information.
The indictment details how Clase, a relief pitcher, began coordinating with bettors as early as May 2023. He allegedly texted or called co-conspirators during live MLB games, in violation of league rules, to confirm which pitches he would throw.
Bettors then wagered on outcomes like pitch speed or whether a pitch would land outside the strike zone. In one 2023 game against the New York Mets, bettors reportedly won $27,000 after wagering on a pitch Clase threw faster than 94.95 mph.
Federal agents allege that Clase received kickbacks and bribes disguised as “repairs at the country house” and directed associates in the Dominican Republic to help launder the funds. Overall, bettors won over $400,000 from wagers tied to Clase’s pitches.
Ortiz allegedly joined the conspiracy in June 2025, agreeing to throw intentional balls in exchange for bribes during games against the Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals. Before a game on June 15, Ortiz and Clase were each promised $5,000 for arranging and executing a rigged pitch.
Two weeks later, Ortiz threw another fixed pitch for $7,000, while Clase withdrew $50,000 in cash to help fund wagers. Prosecutors estimate that the bettors netted at least $60,000 on Ortiz’s manipulated pitches.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that Ortiz was arrested Sunday morning by the FBI at Boston Logan International Airport and will make his first court appearance Monday, November 10, in federal court in Boston. His defense attorney is Chris Georgalis of Ohio. Clase, represented by Michael Ferrara, remains outside U.S. custody as of this writing.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. condemned the alleged conduct, saying, “The defendants sold that trust to gamblers by fixing pitches. They defrauded the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball of their honest services. And they betrayed America’s pastime.”
FBI Assistant Director Christopher Raia added, “Their alleged greed not only established an unfair advantage for select bettors but also sullied the reputation of America’s pastime.”
Both players face multiple felony charges, including wire fraud conspiracy, honest services fraud, bribery conspiracy, and money laundering, each carrying potential prison sentences of up to 20 years.
The MLB charges come amid a widening federal probe into illegal gambling across professional sports. Just weeks earlier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested in related investigations.
Billups has been charged in connection with what ABC News described as “an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia,” while Rozier was detained in Orlando after a long-running probe into suspicious betting patterns from a 2023 Hornets game that federal authorities had already linked to the case of former Raptors forward Jontay Porter.