Agent Bart Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada have been convicted by a Florida jury after being indicted on charges of human trafficking in February 2016, reports Curt Anderson of the Associated Press. Hernandez, once a prominent player representative, worked with Estrada in bringing players such as Leonys Martin, Jose Abreu, Raisel Iglesias and Jorge Soler to the United States.
The Miami Herald’s Linda Robertson reported earlier this week that two of the four counts of smuggling against Hernandez were dismissed, as U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to prove that Hernandez smuggled Abreu or Phillies right-hander Dalier Hinojosa into the country. Hernandez still faced charges for smuggling Martin into the country, per Robertson, while Estrada faced three counts of smuggling players into the country.
According to Anderson, Hernandez is facing between three and 15 years in prison, while Estrada faces between five and 35 years of incarceration. The pair is also facing the forfeiture of $15.5MM. Sentencing has been set for July 11, and the defense attorneys have “promised there would be appeals,” Anderson adds.
Martin and Abreu have both shared eye-opening stories of their departure from Cuba during the trial. A previous report from Yahoo’s Jeff Passan back in 2013 revealed that upon leaving Cuba, Martin and his family believed they were being transported to safety and were instead held hostage, at gunpoint, while Martin’s initial five-year deal with the Rangers was negotiated. And as Anderson wrote last month, Martin’s testimony included details of one evening in Mexico in which eight to nine men broke into his apartment with a crowbar and pressured him to leave with them. There were also abduction attempts made on the men who were aiding in smuggling Martin out of Cuba, and beyond that, Martin was forced to initially agree to pay 35 percent of his United States earnings to the smuggling group on top of the more standard five percent to Hernandez for negotiating his deal with teams.
As for Abreu, the White Sox slugger detailed in his testimony (via the AP) that he was advised by his main contact/fixer in Haiti (where he established residency upon departing Cuba) to destroy his fake passport while on his flight from Haiti to the United States. Abreu testified that he actually ate the page of the false documentation that contained his alias and photograph. Immigration policy at the time allowed Abreu to remain in the United States without proper travel documentation because he had already reached American land. Abreu stated that he feared that he needed to be at a meeting with the White Sox on a specific date or could see his contract fall through, and he could not risk being turned away due to forged paperwork.
As was the case with Martin, Abreu was forced to agree to part with an enormous amount of his U.S. earnings, 20 percent to the smuggling group plus five percent to Hernandez, in exchange for their illegal operations. Per Anderson’s latest story, Abreu testified that he had already paid Estrada more than $7MM of his career earnings.
According to Anderson, neither Estrada nor Hernandez testified over the six weeks during which the jury heard testimonies in the trial. Their defense sought to prove that the two men were running legitimate business operations.
Whoa that’s crazy.
Ok I feel awful because I know his is a very serious topic but am I the only one who laughed when they read that Jose abreu ate his passport ?
Probably, yeah.
What about us navy guys who brought in Cubans during the mariel boatlift?? I always wondered if things would ever get wacky enough they would go after everybody sometime, including ppl under orders to pick up ppl at sea, like me who was on a ship during that time around south Florida helping pick up Cubans
I think there are issues of doing it for profit, physically threatening their transportees, etc., that the defendants in this case did that the folks you’re talking about did not. You should be OK.
That was 37 years ago, there is a Statute of Limitations.
Helping them leave and abducting them are two different things.
Lock these a holes up for the max amount of time allowable!!! They knew what they were doing was wrong and made a ton of money off of it
Are you talking about the traffickers or the players who were smuggled out of their country and illegally entered another?
The smugglers of course!! Why the hell would I want the players locked up? Use some common sense man
I don’t believe any cuban arrives legally really. I may be wrong but its my understanding to basically leave cuba at all you have to defect.
No.
Please forgive my potential ignorance but I dont understand how the players are not in trouble (to a lesser extent) as well. They sought out these people to get them to the U.S. correct? It wasnt completely against their will. So is it just because of the threats and basically extortion after the fact that these two are in trouble?
Too late. Your ignorance is now exposed.
Yes: it’s because Hernandez & Estrada led an extortion ring.
The players aren’t in any trouble because they entered the U.S. legally, either with visas acquired from host countries or as people with refugee status.
These people only want to escape oppression, and go to the land of opportunity, cash in millions for being the best of the best at what they do. (A sport enjoyed by millions at that)
Can you imagine, if Chapman still played in Cuba he’d be making as much as their janitors.. (Doctors too, OK)
Considering he has the ability to pitch 99+ mph on his fastball (topping at 105.1) fairly durable and probably the fastest hurler on the planet he deserved every penny of his five year $87 million contract. FREE MARKET >> COMMUNISM.
This topic pisses me off. Life can be unfair, sometimes
Free market capitalism has its downfalls too. Namely corporate takeover and the enourmous gaps in wealth from top to bottom. Private health care makes the USA look like a joke.
Communism just doesn’t work plain and simple. But some aspects of it should be adopted but Americans are ignorant and stubborn.
Anywho, Cuba is more or less under the control of a totalitarian regime.
Is Trump deporting all of the players “smuggled”?
They have work visas. But nice try to make sports political. Now run along and play with all of the other trolls elsewhere on the internet, you are not welcome here.
Thank you.
While agreeably a dumb question, his inquiries are relevant none the less.
You’re both in need of a healthy dose of maturity.
It was not relevant. You are also part of the problem.
Despicable actions surrounding these talented Cuban players – throw the book at such baseball pimps.