Print
Aug 15, 2008 3:21 pm US/Central
Source: Yankees Fire 2 Scouts Amid Kickbacks Probe
NEW YORK (AP) ―
The New York Yankees have fired two scouts under investigation in a probe of possible kickbacks from contracts with Latin American players, The Associated Press has learned.
The Yankees terminated the contracts of Carlos Rios, their director of Latin American scouting, and Ramon Valdivia, their Dominican Republic scouting director, a baseball official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.
The two, who had been on leave, were terminated Thursday, the official said.
They were accused of skimming six figures from the deals, a second baseball official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcements had been made.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Major League Baseball has been investigating alleged skimming involving Latin American operations for months.
In May, the Chicago White Sox fired director of player personnel David Wilder along with two scouts in the club's Latin American operations following the start of MLB's probe of alleged kickbacks. The team said the pair had violated club policy but did not go into details. The White Sox also said findings from baseball's investigation had been given to federal authorities.
The Boston Red Sox later fired Pablo Lantigua, their Dominican scouting supervisor, also saying he violated team policy.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
