Crime

A-Rod’s ex-assistant plans to plead guilty to role in South Florida steroid ring

By Jay Weaver

jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

In this Sept. 11, 2013, file photo, New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez wipes sweat from his brow as he sits in the dugout before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore. The U.S. government says New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez paid his cousin almost $1 million to keep secret Rodriguez's use of performance enhancing drugs. In court documents filed last week in Miami, federal prosecutors say Rodriguez paid $900,000 last year to settle a threatened lawsuit by Yuri Sucart, who had worked as Rodriguez's personal assistant. Sucart, in a letter from his lawyer, threatened to expose Rodriquez's PED use if he wasn't paid $5 million.
In this Sept. 11, 2013, file photo, New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez wipes sweat from his brow as he sits in the dugout before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore. The U.S. government says New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez paid his cousin almost $1 million to keep secret Rodriguez's use of performance enhancing drugs. In court documents filed last week in Miami, federal prosecutors say Rodriguez paid $900,000 last year to settle a threatened lawsuit by Yuri Sucart, who had worked as Rodriguez's personal assistant. Sucart, in a letter from his lawyer, threatened to expose Rodriquez's PED use if he wasn't paid $5 million. Patrick Semansky AP

The former assistant to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez plans to plead guilty next Friday to participating in a South Florida steroid-distribution ring that caused the biggest doping scandal in Major League Baseball, according to court records.

Yuri Sucart, who lives in southwest Miami-Dade County, is charged with conspiring with a fake doctor who operated a Coral Gables anti-aging clinic that sold banned substances to Rodriguez and other MLB players.

Sucart, who is also Rodriguez's cousin, will be the eighth and final defendant to plead guilty in the high-profile federal case that revolved arround the now-shuttered clinic, Biogenesis of America, and its owner, Anthony Bosch.

Bosch became MLB’s key witness in 2013, leading to the lengthy suspensions of Rodriguez and 13 other pro ballplayers for steroid use.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 5:52 PM with the headline "A-Rod’s ex-assistant plans to plead guilty to role in South Florida steroid ring."

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