Alex Rodriguez Cousin - Yuri Sucart, the cousin of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has reportedly been paid almost $1 million in exchange for keeping quiet about Rodriguez's performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, according to court documents uncovered by the New York Daily News.
Last week, the court papers were filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The papers detailed how Alex Rodriguez's cousin, Yuri Sucart, threatened to expose the Yankee superstar's drug secrets unless he is given "enormous sums of money."
On Dec. 18, 2012, Sucart's former attorney, Jeffrey Sonn, demanded $5 million via a letter. The letter reportedly also stipulated a "life estate" for Sucart and his wife.
Rodriguez eventually gave in to Sucart's demand, and eventually entered into a confidential settlement with his cousin Sucart on Jun. 5, 2013. Alex Rodriguez's cousin was given $700,000 for his silence on the drug issues. In addition, three other payments were made to Sucart. They were reportedly $200,000 in total.
At the time, Rodriguez had just finished suspension for one season after getting involved in the Biogenesis scandal. 14 players, including Rodriguez, had been suspended after investigation on the Major League Baseball's Biogenesis anti-aging clinic scandal.
In 2009, A-Rod already made a limited confessed to using steroids. In a press conference, Alex Rodriguez's cousin, Yuri Sucart, was revealed to have supplied the steroids to Rodriguez from 2001 to 2003.
The letter from Sucart's attorney demanding money was received by A-Rod at the time investigations by MLB and federal agents in Florida were reportedly building up. Rodriguez did not heed Sucart any attention until two months before MLB commissioner Bud Selig gave Rodriguez a 211-game suspension. Eventually, the suspension was reduced to 162 games, plus the postseason. However, the suspension is still a huge blow for any major league player.
"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," said one statement from the 2012 letter written by Sonn, the lawyer of Alex Rodriguez's cousin.
"(Yuri) was trained to serve as a personal assistant to professional baseball players," wrote Sonn in the letter. This referenced Rodriguez's refusal to continue payment for Sucart's past services.
"Due to your use of performance-enhancing substances, Yuri was wrongly blamed. Nonetheless, Yuri remains able and willing to continue to serve you and your needs as a personal assistant, within the restrictions that baseball has placed upon him. He does not wish to and does not intend to ever speak to the MLB unless he is subpoenaed," continued the letter written by Alex Rodriguez cousin's lawyer.
"Given the sudden breach of your longstanding agreement with Yuri, he wishes to propose that you provide to him payment for his past services rendered, and for the loyalty he has shown you. Therefore, Yuri requests that you now pay him for the past services rendered and to fulfill your promise to support he and his family for life. That sum is $5 million and a life estate for he and his wife in the house (free and clear of any liens or mortgages) where he is currently living," the letter continued.
Alex Rodriguez's cousin, Sucart, is a defendant in the federal case which involved Biogenesis and owner Anthony Bosch. Sucart pleaded not guilty, while Bosch pleaded guilty and is now awaiting sentencing.
"Rodriguez has a prominent role in the government's proof of Count 1 and Count 2 conspiraces to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone," said Prosecutor Patrick Sullivan in the court papers, suggesting that A-Rod can be a witness against his cousin Yuri Sucart.
"That is what it sounds like. It sounds like A-Rod is a potential witness against his cousin," Alex Rodriguez cousin's court-appointed attorney, Edward O'Donnell IV, told the Daily News. "They are not allies, that's for sure, or friends."
On Monday, the United States Attorney's office in Miami reportedly did not make any comments. Rodriguez's spokesman also did not return a call from the Daily News.
Meanwhile, after charges from the MLB and federal investigations into Biogenesis, Alex Rodriguez cousin Sucart has been charged with conspiracy to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone.
The court documents unearthed by the NY Daily were reportedly posted Monday following a judge's orders to Sucart to pay $600 a month for a court-appointed attorney to represent him. Alex Rodriguez cousin Sucart claimed indigence, explaining he could not afford a lawyer.
According to the court filings, the government was able to obtain a summary-document from the Department of Revenue outlining Alex Rodriguez cousin Sucart's financial earnings after Rodriguez's payments. Some reportedly went way back 2003 and continued through the third quarter of 2013.
Rodriguez is rumored to be working out for a return to the New York Yankees after his suspension. He is still under contract for three more seasons on 2015. ESPN New York reports. that A-Rod has chosen not to speak publicly following his suspension.
"At some point in the future, Alex will have something to say," said Ron Berkowitz, A-Rod's spokesman, to ESPN New York. "Today is not the time. When it is time, everyone will hear from Alex. Right now, he is working out and ready to return for 2015."
Yankee officials could not be reached for comment.
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