PAiN
11-05-2014, 02:14 AM
A-Rod’s Cousin Received Nearly $1 Million To Keep Quiet About Steroids
Nov 4, 2014
http://uptownmagazine.com/files/2014/11/Uptown_A-Rod-640x457.jpg
According to court papers filed last week, Alex Rodriguez‘s cousin, Yuri Sucart, threatened to expose the slugger’s steroid use if he wasn’t paid “enormous sums of money.” Rodriguez caved into the demands, entering into a confidential agreement with Sucart on June 5, 2013, agreeing to dole out one $700,000 payment for his cousin’s silence and three additional payments that added up to $200,000.
In a letter from Dec. 18, 2012, Sucart’s former lawyer, Jeffrey Sonn, had demanded $5 million and a “life estate” for Sucart and his wife, according to court papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
By that time, Rodriguez was in the middle of the Major League Baseball investigation into the Biogenesis clinic scandal that would eventually suspend 14 players, including Rodriguez himself. Rodriguez had already admitted to some steroid use in 2009, saying at a press conference that he had used steroids provided by his cousin from 2001 to 2003.
Sonn’s letter makes mention that “Yuri, even after he was accused of being a steroid mule for you, kept your confidences of all your activities while you played for the Rangers and the Yankees.”
Rodriguez did not start to pay Sucart until two months before MLB commissioner Bud Selig gave Rodriguez a 211-game suspension for his participation in the Biogenesis scandal.
Sucart is currently a defendant in the federal case against Biogenesis and its owner, Anthony Bosch. Sucart has been charged with conspiracy to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone. He has pleaded not guilty while Bosch has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Interestingly, Rodriguez is a key component in the government’s case, meaning that he could very well testify against his cousin.
“That is what it sounds like. It sounds like A-Rod is a potential witness against his cousin,” Sucart’s court-appointed attorney, Edward O’Donnell IV, told the New York Daily News. “They are not allies, that’s for sure, or friends.”
The court documents were posted after Sucart was ordered to pay $600 a month for his court appointed attorney and he claimed he would be unable to pay. “The sums of money obtained by defendant in the past several years as a result of his association with Alexander Rodriguez are more than adequate for defendant to retain a defense attorney at his own expense. He should not be found entitled to the services of a CJA attorney, and his attempt to justify such an appointment by the averments of his wholly inadequate and extremely misleading Financial Report should be rejected,” reads the court document.
The motion goes on to say that the government will “prove that defendant personally arranged meetings between Rodriguez and Bosch, where Bosch injected Rodriguez with PEDs; and that defendant received an ample cut of the payments Rodriguez made to Bosch.”
The United States Attorney’s office in Miami declined the New York Daily News‘ request for comment Monday. Rodriguez’s spokesman did not immediately return a call.
Nov 4, 2014
http://uptownmagazine.com/files/2014/11/Uptown_A-Rod-640x457.jpg
According to court papers filed last week, Alex Rodriguez‘s cousin, Yuri Sucart, threatened to expose the slugger’s steroid use if he wasn’t paid “enormous sums of money.” Rodriguez caved into the demands, entering into a confidential agreement with Sucart on June 5, 2013, agreeing to dole out one $700,000 payment for his cousin’s silence and three additional payments that added up to $200,000.
In a letter from Dec. 18, 2012, Sucart’s former lawyer, Jeffrey Sonn, had demanded $5 million and a “life estate” for Sucart and his wife, according to court papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
By that time, Rodriguez was in the middle of the Major League Baseball investigation into the Biogenesis clinic scandal that would eventually suspend 14 players, including Rodriguez himself. Rodriguez had already admitted to some steroid use in 2009, saying at a press conference that he had used steroids provided by his cousin from 2001 to 2003.
Sonn’s letter makes mention that “Yuri, even after he was accused of being a steroid mule for you, kept your confidences of all your activities while you played for the Rangers and the Yankees.”
Rodriguez did not start to pay Sucart until two months before MLB commissioner Bud Selig gave Rodriguez a 211-game suspension for his participation in the Biogenesis scandal.
Sucart is currently a defendant in the federal case against Biogenesis and its owner, Anthony Bosch. Sucart has been charged with conspiracy to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone. He has pleaded not guilty while Bosch has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Interestingly, Rodriguez is a key component in the government’s case, meaning that he could very well testify against his cousin.
“That is what it sounds like. It sounds like A-Rod is a potential witness against his cousin,” Sucart’s court-appointed attorney, Edward O’Donnell IV, told the New York Daily News. “They are not allies, that’s for sure, or friends.”
The court documents were posted after Sucart was ordered to pay $600 a month for his court appointed attorney and he claimed he would be unable to pay. “The sums of money obtained by defendant in the past several years as a result of his association with Alexander Rodriguez are more than adequate for defendant to retain a defense attorney at his own expense. He should not be found entitled to the services of a CJA attorney, and his attempt to justify such an appointment by the averments of his wholly inadequate and extremely misleading Financial Report should be rejected,” reads the court document.
The motion goes on to say that the government will “prove that defendant personally arranged meetings between Rodriguez and Bosch, where Bosch injected Rodriguez with PEDs; and that defendant received an ample cut of the payments Rodriguez made to Bosch.”
The United States Attorney’s office in Miami declined the New York Daily News‘ request for comment Monday. Rodriguez’s spokesman did not immediately return a call.