Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz Face Federal Jury in Brooklyn

Federal prosecutors are testing a theory of sports fraud that has upended the careers of two high-profile pitchers.

Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, both former Cleveland Guardians, began a jury trial in Brooklyn on Monday. They face charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering. The core of the case involves an alleged scheme where the pitchers accepted cash from two Dominican Republic-based gamblers. In exchange, the bettors placed in-game prop wagers on specific pitch types. Prosecutors claim the bettors won at least $460,000 on these bets.

Clase, 28, served as the Guardians closer and was a three-time All-Star. He had completed the fourth year of a five-year, $20 million contract when the charges became public in November 2025. Ortiz, 27, was a starting pitcher who earned $782,600 in the 2025 season. Both men pleaded not guilty. They remain on nondisciplinary leave from the Guardians without pay. The indictment states that Clase began sharing pitch information with the bettors in 2023. It also alleges that he recruited Ortiz into the arrangement in 2025. Ortiz’s legal team previously attempted to separate his trial from Clase’s but was unsuccessful.

Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto is presiding over the case. She expressed hope during a pretrial conference on Friday to finish jury selection early enough for opening statements to occur that same afternoon. The trial is expected to last about one month. Witnesses will likely include other professional baseball players, such as catchers, as well as team executives. The defense plans to argue that the pitchers were simply using strategic pitch placement to deceive batters, a standard part of the game, rather than colluding with outside bettors.

In a procedural ruling on Friday, the judge barred prosecutors from showing the jury evidence that Clase owed $500,000 in U.S. taxes. The government had introduced the financial records to the defense late, missing a pretrial deadline. A prosecutor argued the evidence was necessary to counter claims that Clase had little financial incentive to cheat because he held millions of dollars in accounts in the Dominican Republic. Major League Baseball and the Guardians have stated that they fully cooperated with authorities. MLB said it alerted federal law enforcement after investigating unusual betting activity.