Federal prosecutors have indicted two MLB pitchers who were under investigation by the league for alleged gambling-related infractions.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy over allegations that they rigged pitches during games and received kickbacks.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said in a statement that Clase and Ortiz violated the public trust they hold as pro athletes. “They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed and they betrayed America’s pastime,” he added.
All allegations are currently unproven. Three of the charges faced by both Clase and Ortiz carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Clase allegedly rigged pitches for two years
Per the unsealed indictment, Clase worked with co-conspirators between May 2023 and June 2025 to rig specific pitches based on speed and location, allowing the co-conspirators to profit from wagers placed using the information. The pitches were often the first of an at-bat.
The co-conspirators placed over 100 straight and parlay wagers on Clase’s pitches across several sports betting platforms.
A series of wagers placed in May 2023 on Clase’s pitch speed against the New York Mets won the bettors over $27,000. A month later, Clase allegedly notified a co-conspirator about a pitch he intended to throw against the Boston Red Sox. The co-conspirator and several other bettors won $58,000 for betting that the pitch would be a ball and slower than 94.95 mph. According to photos in court documents, Clase threw the pitch in question low and in the dirt.
Clase used cellphones during games
In 2025, Clase allegedly began asking for kickbacks for agreeing to throw specific pitches that enabled the co-conspirators to profit. Overall, the bettors pocketed more than $400,000 betting on Clase’s pitches over two years.
He allegedly asked a co-conspirator via text message to send some of the money he won to an unnamed recipient in the Dominican Republic. Clase allegedly later used his cell phone during the middle of a game in May 2025 against the Cincinnati Reds to communicate with a co-conspirator about whether they were “ready” to place wagers on specific pitches that he would throw.
The bettor and several others won approximately $10,000 wagering on Clase’s pitches about 10 minutes after the communication with the Guardians’ relief pitcher. Clase allegedly sent bank account information to one of the bettors, who would send Clase roughly $2,000 through an individual in the Dominican Republic.
In another alleged incident, Clase coordinated rigged pitches with a bettor who attended one of Clase’s games in Cleveland against the Red Sox. Clase communicated with the bettor in the middle of the game via text message and a brief phone call. The co-conspirator and other bettors won roughly $11,000 and Clase allegedly later provided the co-conspirator with money to place bets on his own pitches.
The alleged scheme hit a bump in the road in May 2025, when a wager was lost after a batter swung at a pitch that Clase and the co-conspirators had coordinated as a ball, resulting in roughly $4,000 in losses.
Ortiz got involved in 2025
Ortiz joined the scheme around June 2025, per the documents.
He allegedly worked with Clase and the co-conspirators to also rig pitches and funnel money from winnings to the Dominican Republic. Clase allegedly withdrew $50,000 from a bank in June, with some of the funds used by a co-conspirator to place wagers on pitches thrown by him and Ortiz.
That month, the bettors won at least $60,000 from wagering on Ortiz’s pitches.
“Together with Clase, Ortiz agreed in advance to throw balls (instead of strikes) on pitches in two games in exchange for bribes and kickbacks,” said a U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York release. “Before an MLB game on June 15, 2025, Ortiz agreed with his co-conspirators to throw a ball on a particular pitch in exchange for bribes. The bettors agreed to pay Ortiz a $5,000 bribe for throwing the rigged pitch and Clase a $5,000 bribe for arranging the rigged pitch.”
MLB took swift action
Ortiz and Clase have been on paid leave since July after the MLB initiated a probe following alerts from monitoring and integrity firm IC360. The company reported suspicious betting activity not just in Ohio but also in New York and New Jersey, leading to the probe.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission, which initiated its own investigation into the situation, declined to comment on the indictments when asked by SBC Americas.
