A-Rod Accused Of Paying Cousin To Be Quiet Over PED Use
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – The dominoes keep falling in the MLB steroid scandal that rocked baseball. Now the U.S. government says New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez paid his cousin almost $1 million to keep secret his use of performance enhancing drugs.
All this comes as A-Rod's cousin claims he doesn't have the money to pay for his lawyer.
In court documents filed last week in Miami, federal prosecutors allege Rodriguez paid his cousin – who was also his personal assistant – Yuri Sucart $900,000 last year to settle a threatened lawsuit. Sucart, in a letter from his lawyer, threatened to expose Rodriquez's PED use if he wasn't paid $5 million.
He didn't get $ 5 million from A-Rod, but the federal government said he got enough that tax-payers don't need to pay for his lawyer.
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Sucart is charged with conspiring to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in February. Sucart is currently free on bond.
He was involved with Biogenesis of America. Its owner, Anthony Bosch, has already pleaded guilty and is cooperating with investigators.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) didn't mince words when talking about Bosch.
"He's not a doctor. He's a drug dealer," said Mark R. Trouville, Chief of The Miami Drug Enforcement Administration Office.
The new documents said Sucart, is the one who introduced the slugger to Bosch, arranged meetings between the two, and even got a cut of the money A-Rod paid Bosch for the performance enhancing drugs, known as "peds."
"Folks, when you talk about PEDs in the black market, you're talking about some clown in his basement with a bucket and a burner and a very dangerous, limited knowledge of chemistry, " said Trouville.
Sucart had been A-Rod's personal assistant since 2006 but in 2012, they had a nasty falling out. That's when Sucart demanded the money to keep quiet.
The government detailed Sucart's salary for some of the years he worked for A-rod, at which time he was, making over six figures two years in a row.
Rodriguez's spokesman did not immediately respond to the AP's request for comment.
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