As the Alex Rodriguez hearing continues and we dive further and further into the complex dealings behind the fall of Biogenesis, it has been uncovered that MLB knowingly paid for stolen documents. Now it seems that those stolen documents were in fact intended for the Florida Department of Health, who were investigating Anthony Bosch and his clinic.
We all know the story of Porter Fischer, the man credited for blowing the whistle on the entire doping operation, all because Bosch owed him money. He, along with MLB commissioner Bud Selig, Yankees president Randy Levine, MLB investigator Dan Mullin, as well as friend of Fischer, Gary Jones, are all likely to provide some form of testimony as Alex Rodriguez's legal team begins their defense of their client.
I'll try my best to simplify what went on, where the evidence bounced around, and what it all means for MLB's investigation:
In the middle of Fischer's dispute with Bosch, he went to his friend and former Biogenesis associate, Peter Carbone, who gave him the idea to steal the documents in the first place. After Fischer copied the documents, he gave Carbone a copy for safe keeping. Jorge "Oggi" Velasquez, an associate of both Bosch and Rodriguez, found out about the documents and had Carbone try to retrieve the originals from Fischer. As the story was beginning to make headlines, Fischer panicked and gave Carbone the originals, hoping to cash out with the money Bosch owed him. It turned out that Carbone turned around and gave those documents to A-Rod's people instead (these could be what someone close to A-Rod leaked that outed Ryan Braun and Francisco Cervelli).
MLB attempted to purchase whatever documents Fischer still had and he confided in Gary Jones about everything. Jones was the one who later met with MLB investigators and sold Biogenesis documents for a bag of money in a diner. Fischer believes Jones got the documents from Carbone.
Around the same time, Fischer started cooperating with the Department of Health and agreed to hand over the boxes of documents he had stashed away. Jones lured him to Carbone's tanning salon while he was transporting the documents and his car was broken into when he was inside the building. Soon after, it was reported by the Florida Department of Health that MLB had paid Jones for stolen documents.
Carbone went on to show video footage of MLB buying documents at the diner to A-Rod's investigators. Jones has given a sworn affidavit to A-Rod's team and Fischer has been silenced by the state of Florida's investigation.
It's totally possible that all three men saw what was going on and decided to play MLB and Alex Rodriguez for $300,000 in documents and evidence. Whether it's a true conspiracy or just a couple of opportunists given the perfect chance to make easy money remains to be seen.
Both sides seemingly paid for stolen evidence, but most startling of all is that MLB paid Jones to steal evidence that was meant to go to the Department of Health. Now Florida police are reopening the investigation into the theft of the documents in order to determine whether or not MLB actually knew the documents were stolen.
Whether MLB wanted him to take the evidence from the state or not is obviously still up in the air, but if they can be linked back to something like this, the league could be in some serious trouble. This goes beyond punishing players for steroids use; if Major League Baseball is guilty of impeding a Federal criminal investigation, all those who dealt with the investigation, Bud Selig, Rob Manfred, and the investigators, could face felony charges. Who knows what would happen then.
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