Post by JohnM on Nov 5, 2014 0:22:24 GMT -5
Will sing like a bird.
Alex Rodriguez will talk to feds about Biogenesis after agreeing to 'queen for a day' immunity deal
The limited-use proffer deal Rodriguez received does not mean that he will avoid prosecution entirely: If A-Rod is not truthful in his testimony or if other evidence of a crime is discovered by prosecutors, the deal is off.
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE , BILL MADDEN , TERI THOMPSON , CHRISTIAN RED
Disgraced Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez will be expected to take cuts at cousin Yuri Sucart, Anthony Bosch and other figures involved with Biogenesis doping ring, sources say.
Alex Rodriguez has gone from king of the baseball diamond to “queen for a day” — indicating A-Rod is a cooperating witness in the federal Biogenesis investigation.
Rodriguez signed an agreement with prosecutors in South Florida in January, sources told the Daily News.
The pact Rodriguez signed on Jan. 29 — also signed by Joseph Tacopina, A-Rod’s former attorney, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Sullivan — is known in legal circles as a “queen for a day” agreement. The term refers to a deal where a person under investigation is guaranteed that their admissions won’t be used against them in later proceedings.
The limited-use proffer deal Rodriguez received does not mean that he will avoid prosecution entirely: If A-Rod is not truthful in his testimony or if other evidence of a crime is discovered by prosecutors, the deal is off.
While the agreement provides limited protection for Rodriguez, it also raises the question why the government is offering any kind of immunity to the disgraced Yankee.
“The only protection he has under that kind of agreement is what he told them, and even then he only gets the protection if what he told them is the truth,” said Daily News legal analyst Tom Harvey. “He didn’t get transactional immunity, so, bottom line, if the feds want to prosecute A-Rod, they can. That letter will not prevent a prosecution.”
A-Rod — who has now turned A-Rat — has allegedly provided information to the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami in its prosecution of Anthony Bosch and other defendants involved in the Biogenesis doping case. The list of defendants includes Rodriguez’s cousin, Yuri Sucart.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department in Miami declined comment, as did a spokesman for Rodriguez.
Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz concluded that Rodriguez attempted to obstruct baseball’s investigation in his report upholding A-Rod’s suspension, and baseball officials have also accused the steroid-stained slugger of purchasing evidence and intimidating Bosch and other witnesses.
Another source said Rodriguez allegedly steered other players to Biogenesis.
“Do you think all these players went to Bosch because of Yuri Sucart?” the source asked about Rodriguez’s cousin, who faces seven counts, including distributing testosterone and human growth hormone.
Eight other players involved in Biogenesis were also offered proffer agreements, a source said, although none are believed to have as extensive an involvement in the federal prosecution as A-Rod.
According to one source with knowledge of the case, the feds are targeting Sucart — and flipping A-Rod — because they believe Sucart assumed a prominent role in the doping business once the feds and MLB began uncovering evidence in 2013 of widespread drug distribution by Bosch and his now-shuttered Biogenesis clinic.
According to court papers filed in Miami on Friday, and first reported by The News, Rodriguez paid Sucart, his longtime personal assistant and alleged drug mule, almost $1 million in June 2013 to keep quiet about A-Rod’s doping and other secrets. The agreement also called for Rodriguez to provide a home and health insurance for Sucart and his family, and for Rodriguez’s real estate company to hire Sucart for five years for a $75,000-a-year job.
Miami attorney Jeffrey Sonn, who represented Sucart in the deal, said he sought the settlement because Rodriguez had broken his promise to employ his cousin for life after unfairly dragging Sucart into his 2009 steroid mea culpa.
Former owner of the Biogenesis of America clinic Anthony Bosch will likely be a topic of discussion for Alex Rodriguez and the feds.
“This was a simple case about breach of contract for employment for life under Florida law,” Sonn said.
Rodriguez was suspended on Aug. 5, 2013, but played through the end of that season before losing his arbitration battle in January. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz reduced the record 211-game MLB ban down to 162 games and the 2014 postseason. A-Rod’s suspension ended following the World Series last week.
Sullivan wrote in the court papers that Rodriguez “has a prominent role in the government’s Count 1 and Count 2 conspiracies to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone,” suggesting that Rodriguez will indeed be a witness against Sucart during a trial. The government had challenged Sucart’s claim of indigence, citing A-Rod’s payments to him, and Monday a judge ordered Sucart to pay $600 a month for a court-appointed attorney to represent him.
Sucart’s trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 9 in Miami. Bosch has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
In the letter addressed to Tacopina regarding the possible grant of immunity for his client, the prosecutors stipulate that should A-Rod agree to be interviewed by the feds, “all statements and information provided by Mr. Rodriguez must be truthful and complete. He must not seek to protect anyone through false information or willful admission, and must not falsely accuse or implicate anyone.”
It also warned that the feds could still pursue any leads derived from information provided by Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has laid low in recent months, saying he wants to focus on returning to baseball.
“At some point in the future, Alex will have something to say,” A-Rod spokesman Ron Berkowitz, told ESPN New York Monday. “Today is not the time. When it is time, everyone will hear from Alex.”
Alex Rodriguez will talk to feds about Biogenesis after agreeing to 'queen for a day' immunity deal
The limited-use proffer deal Rodriguez received does not mean that he will avoid prosecution entirely: If A-Rod is not truthful in his testimony or if other evidence of a crime is discovered by prosecutors, the deal is off.
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE , BILL MADDEN , TERI THOMPSON , CHRISTIAN RED
Disgraced Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez will be expected to take cuts at cousin Yuri Sucart, Anthony Bosch and other figures involved with Biogenesis doping ring, sources say.
Alex Rodriguez has gone from king of the baseball diamond to “queen for a day” — indicating A-Rod is a cooperating witness in the federal Biogenesis investigation.
Rodriguez signed an agreement with prosecutors in South Florida in January, sources told the Daily News.
The pact Rodriguez signed on Jan. 29 — also signed by Joseph Tacopina, A-Rod’s former attorney, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Sullivan — is known in legal circles as a “queen for a day” agreement. The term refers to a deal where a person under investigation is guaranteed that their admissions won’t be used against them in later proceedings.
The limited-use proffer deal Rodriguez received does not mean that he will avoid prosecution entirely: If A-Rod is not truthful in his testimony or if other evidence of a crime is discovered by prosecutors, the deal is off.
While the agreement provides limited protection for Rodriguez, it also raises the question why the government is offering any kind of immunity to the disgraced Yankee.
“The only protection he has under that kind of agreement is what he told them, and even then he only gets the protection if what he told them is the truth,” said Daily News legal analyst Tom Harvey. “He didn’t get transactional immunity, so, bottom line, if the feds want to prosecute A-Rod, they can. That letter will not prevent a prosecution.”
A-Rod — who has now turned A-Rat — has allegedly provided information to the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami in its prosecution of Anthony Bosch and other defendants involved in the Biogenesis doping case. The list of defendants includes Rodriguez’s cousin, Yuri Sucart.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department in Miami declined comment, as did a spokesman for Rodriguez.
Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz concluded that Rodriguez attempted to obstruct baseball’s investigation in his report upholding A-Rod’s suspension, and baseball officials have also accused the steroid-stained slugger of purchasing evidence and intimidating Bosch and other witnesses.
Another source said Rodriguez allegedly steered other players to Biogenesis.
“Do you think all these players went to Bosch because of Yuri Sucart?” the source asked about Rodriguez’s cousin, who faces seven counts, including distributing testosterone and human growth hormone.
Eight other players involved in Biogenesis were also offered proffer agreements, a source said, although none are believed to have as extensive an involvement in the federal prosecution as A-Rod.
According to one source with knowledge of the case, the feds are targeting Sucart — and flipping A-Rod — because they believe Sucart assumed a prominent role in the doping business once the feds and MLB began uncovering evidence in 2013 of widespread drug distribution by Bosch and his now-shuttered Biogenesis clinic.
According to court papers filed in Miami on Friday, and first reported by The News, Rodriguez paid Sucart, his longtime personal assistant and alleged drug mule, almost $1 million in June 2013 to keep quiet about A-Rod’s doping and other secrets. The agreement also called for Rodriguez to provide a home and health insurance for Sucart and his family, and for Rodriguez’s real estate company to hire Sucart for five years for a $75,000-a-year job.
Miami attorney Jeffrey Sonn, who represented Sucart in the deal, said he sought the settlement because Rodriguez had broken his promise to employ his cousin for life after unfairly dragging Sucart into his 2009 steroid mea culpa.
Former owner of the Biogenesis of America clinic Anthony Bosch will likely be a topic of discussion for Alex Rodriguez and the feds.
“This was a simple case about breach of contract for employment for life under Florida law,” Sonn said.
Rodriguez was suspended on Aug. 5, 2013, but played through the end of that season before losing his arbitration battle in January. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz reduced the record 211-game MLB ban down to 162 games and the 2014 postseason. A-Rod’s suspension ended following the World Series last week.
Sullivan wrote in the court papers that Rodriguez “has a prominent role in the government’s Count 1 and Count 2 conspiracies to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone,” suggesting that Rodriguez will indeed be a witness against Sucart during a trial. The government had challenged Sucart’s claim of indigence, citing A-Rod’s payments to him, and Monday a judge ordered Sucart to pay $600 a month for a court-appointed attorney to represent him.
Sucart’s trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 9 in Miami. Bosch has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
In the letter addressed to Tacopina regarding the possible grant of immunity for his client, the prosecutors stipulate that should A-Rod agree to be interviewed by the feds, “all statements and information provided by Mr. Rodriguez must be truthful and complete. He must not seek to protect anyone through false information or willful admission, and must not falsely accuse or implicate anyone.”
It also warned that the feds could still pursue any leads derived from information provided by Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has laid low in recent months, saying he wants to focus on returning to baseball.
“At some point in the future, Alex will have something to say,” A-Rod spokesman Ron Berkowitz, told ESPN New York Monday. “Today is not the time. When it is time, everyone will hear from Alex.”