BROOKLYN (CN) - A pair of Cleveland Guardians pitchers accused of helping to rig bets in MLB games asked a federal judge on Friday to throw out the first count of their indictment.
Emanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz appear to be on the same team when it comes to their legal defense after Ortiz joined Clase's motion to dismiss the wire fraud conspiracy charge against them, saying it "fails to state an offense and improperly federalizes an alleged violation of state law."
Prosecutors say the players tipped off gamblers as to how they'd pitch in certain games, allowing them to place bets accordingly and win around half a million dollars in fraudulent wagers.
Clase, 28, contends the government didn't meet the essential elements of a wire fraud charge: a scheme to defraud, with money or property as the object of the scheme and the use of wires. The three-time All-Star isn't accused of placing any wagers himself, but instead of providing information to bettors who used it in turn.
Prosecutors have yet to identify an instance in which the bettors lied to platforms, Clase adds in the motion penned by attorney Michael Ferrara of the Columbus, Ohio-based firm Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
The defense team reasons, then, that prosecutors are accusing the defendants of conspiring to violate the betting platforms' house rules.
"But courts have repeatedly held that merely failing to follow private rules is not enough to plead a fraudulent omission; a person does not commit fraud by simply 'failing to disclose that he or she is not complying with certain rules,'" Clase says, citing the 2006 case United States v. Hunt.
Clase's team also argues the government is trying to "transform alleged violations of state-regulated sportsbook rules into a federal wire fraud conspiracy, upsetting the 'coherent federal policy' governing sports wagering."
Ortiz, 27, joined Clase's Friday afternoon motion, writing that "those theories and arguments are equally
applicable" to his case.
Thrown pitches
Beginning in 2023, prosecutors say, Clase helped rig "prop bets" on what pitches he'd throw. In some cases, Clase threw pitches into the dirt as co-conspirators won thousands betting he'd throw a ball.
Ortiz is charged with joining the scheme last summer and agreeing along with Clase to throw balls instead of strikes in two June 2025 games.
Wire fraud conspiracy - the charge the pair seeks to dismiss - carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. So does honest services wire fraud conspiracy, the second count. Clase and Ortiz are also charged with conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery (five years) and money laundering conspiracy (20 years).
Clase and Ortiz pleaded not guilty and were released on bail packages worth $600,000 and $500,000, respectively. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo imposed GPS monitoring on both defendants.
In a superseding indictment filed in February, prosecutors charged a third co-conspirator, Robinson Vasquez, supposedly a close friend of Clase, and a fourth whose name is redacted, with placing bets on the players' fixed pitches via online sportsbooks.
Trial is scheduled for Nov. 2.
Source: Courthouse News Service
