Reports: A-Rod Paid $900K For Cousin Yuri's Silence On PEDs
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Alex Rodriguez's suspension is officially over. But the drama is still in full swing.
The New York Yankees slugger, who sat out the entire 2014 season for his role in baseball's Biogenesis scandal, paid disgraced cousin Yuri Sucart nearly $1 million to keep the lid on his history with performance-enhancing drugs, according to multiple reports.
Court filings show that Sucart asked for $5 million and a "life estate" from A-Rod in late 2012, the New York Daily News reported. Rodriguez was named in the Miami New Times' bombshell Biogenesis report the following month.
He agreed to a "confidential settlement" with Sucart in June 2013 -- two months before receiving his suspension -- and made four payments totaling $900,000, the Daily News reported.
In 2009, Rodriguez admitted to using PEDs from 2001-03 while a member of the Texas Rangers. He said he got the drugs from Sucart.
"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," Sucart's ex-lawyer wrote in a 2012 letter to Rodriguez, according to the Daily News.
Sucart has pleaded not guilty to drug charges stemming from a federal investigation into Biogenesis. He could meet his cousin face-to-face in court, ESPN reported, citing a statement by the prosecution that indicated A-Rod could be called as a witness.
"(Rodriguez) has a prominent role in the government's proof of Count 1 and Count 2 conspiracies to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone," prosecutor Patrick Sullivan is quoted as saying in court documents, according to ESPN.
Rodriguez spokesman Ron Berkowitz said the third baseman would have "something to say" -- eventually.
"Today is not the time," Berkowitz told ESPN New York. "When it is time, everyone will hear from Alex. Right now, he is working out and ready to return for 2015."
The 39-year-old is under contract with the Yankees through 2017.
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