USA: 3rd former baseball scout accepts wrongdoings
articles.chicagotribune.com on November 18, 2011 reported that a former baseball scout in Latin America for the White Sox pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Chicago to taking part in a scheme to collect kickbacks from players given signing bonuses. Jorge Oquendo Rivera, of Puerto Rico, is the third former White Sox employee to be convicted in connection with the scandal. According to his plea agreement with prosecutors, Rivera conspired with the two others to inflate signing bonuses and then pocket hundreds of housands of dollars in cash. Rivera pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for mailing a $213,500 signing bonus from the White Sox to a player he had scouted in Brazil and then passing on about $20,000 to $25,000 in kickbacks to David Wilder, the Sox's senior director of player personnel. Prosecutors alleged that Rivera admitted he solicited and collected kickbacks from 17 prospective players in all during the three-year scheme.U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle set Rivera's sentencing for March 7. Wilder, who had been a close friend and trusted adviser to Sox general manager Ken Williams before his firing in 2008, and scout Victor Mateo previously pleaded guilty.
The original article can be found at articles.chicagotribune.com.
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