Yasiel Puig Being Sued For $12 Million
Los Angeles Dodgers rookie superstar Yasiel Puig has had a meteoric rise to fame since being called up from the Chattanooga Lookouts in May 2013. He’s been one of the most buzzed about player in MLB this season and nearly earned a place in the All-Star game after an unprecedented six weeks in the majors.
If the baseball establishment didn’t have a universal conniption and come together with a concerted effort to keep him out, Puig would’ve been playing in the game, rather than hanging with Snoop Lion at the Playboy Mansion. Then again, he’s probably not complaining about that one.
Unfortunately for Puig, it hasn’t been all good news. It seems his newfound fame has made him the target of a litigious Cuban felon with some U.S. based lawyers and an ax to grind.
On Friday the Los Angeles Times reported that a Cuban man was suing him for a hefty sum of $12 million. The man alleges Puig gave false statements in the 2010 trial of Miguel Angel Corbacho Daudinot, which led to his conviction for human trafficking and subsequent seven year prison sentence.
The complaint was filed in federal district court in Florida; within it both Puig and his mother are referred to as government informants. Corbacho Daudinot is seeking damages for the “prolonged arbitrary detention and torture” he suffered after Puig turned him in for offering him assistance in trying to defect the country.
Corbacho Daudinot served 3 1/2 years of his sentence and was released to serve the remaining portion under a “provisional liberty” program. Although this all happened in Cuba and he’s unable to leave the country for the next several years, his lawyers argue the U.S. courts have jurisdiction of the case under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991.
It’s hard to tell if the case has any merit this early on, but the claims might carry more water if the same lawyers hadn’t already filed a number of similar lawsuits, for a number of different plaintiffs, against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman last year. That’s not to say that it’s definitely baseless, but it certainly doesn’t look very good.
