Two Major League Baseball players are charged in a sports gambling scheme

Two Cleveland Guardians pitchers have been accused of taking bribes to rig pitches they threw at Major League Baseball games.

Federal prosecutors and the FBI announced Sunday that shooters Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz and Luis Leandro Ortiz Ribera have been charged in connection with sports betting and money laundering.

Prosecutors allege the scheme attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal bets.

“The defendants’ alleged greed not only provided an unfair advantage to select bettors, but also tarnished the reputation of America’s pastime,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raya said in a statement. Both players denied committing any wrongdoing.

The indictment alleges that Mr. Ortiz and Mr. Klass coordinated in advance with co-conspirators, allowing the co-conspirators, and sometimes themselves, to place hundreds of fraudulent bets at online sportsbooks.

Prosecutors say Mr. Klass, who they alleged joined the scheme in approximately May 2023, and Mr. Ortiz, whom they alleged joined in approximately June 2025, each received kickbacks or bribes from bookies in exchange for advanced information.

For example, before a game on June 27, 2025, bookmakers paid Mr. Ortiz $7,000 to throw a rigged punt and paid Mr. Claes the same amount to arrange a rigged punt, prosecutors allege. Before the game, Mr. Klass took $50,000 in cash and gave $15,000 to a co-conspirator who used it to bet on the field, the indictment alleges.

In all, Mr. Ortiz’s pitches helped his co-conspirators win at least $60,000 from illegal bets, while Mr. Klass helped his co-conspirators make at least $400,000, prosecutors allege.

“The defendants deprived the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball of their honest services. They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. alleged in a press release.

“When corruption creeps into sport, it not only brings shame to the participants, but also damages public confidence in an institution that is vital and dear to us all,” Nocella added.

Authorities said Ortiz was arrested in Boston on Sunday, and that Kallas is not currently in custody in the United States.

Both were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to influence athletic contests by bribery, and conspiracy to launder money.

Luis Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, told CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the US, that his client was “innocent of the charges related to the two-point throw”.

“He has not and will never inappropriately influence the game, not for the benefit of anyone or for anything,” Georgalis told CBS.

The BBC has also contacted Mr Klass’s representative, Kelvin Nova.

While the investigation into Klass was still ongoing prior to the indictments, Nova told Cleveland.com that his client “told me he wasn’t betting.”

The charges come just weeks after the FBI announced dozens of arrests in connection with two similar sports betting and money laundering schemes, which involved a professional NBA player and coach as well as members of New York crime families.