Armed with potentially damning testimony from recently suspended Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera, Major League Baseball plans to launch an investigation into the ACES agency for their alleged involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Biogenesis: MLB launching investigation into ACES agency
The Players Association has already vindicated ACES from any blame in the Biogenesis scandal, but the league isn’t so sure.
USA TODAY Sports
More Biogenesis: Agents Speak Out Against ACES
While the agency is not tied to every single player involved in the PED scandal -- Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun are not connected -- all 12 players who were handed 50-game suspensions on Monday either are or were represented by ACES.
Baseball, Biogenesis & the Law
Ten questions, with ten answers, on Monday's suspensions, from Purple Row's resident lawyer.The key cog that seems to tie the dozen players together is Juan Carlos Nunez -- a former employee of ACES -- whom Cabrera mentioned outright in a tearful news conference on Monday:
“[Nunez] was the one who got it (PEDs) into my head,” Cabrera said...
“When you come to this country, you come with a little bit of naiveté. Juan Nunez represented me when I came to this country. I came and I had confidence in him, in a person who was trying to help me at that time.”
Nunez, who is currently being sued by MLB for his part in the Biogenesis scandal, worked for ACES from 2006-2012. Sam and Seth Levinson, who run ACES, have stated on several occasions that Nunez was a rogue employee who worked only as a consultant in Latin America, but Cabrera contends that he was actually his agent, which has piqued MLB’s interest.
The Players Association launched its own investigation into Nunez and the Levinson brothers last year when it was determined that Nunez helped Melky Cabrera create the faux website designed to cover up his PED use. The union ultimately revoked Nunez's certification as a limited agent, but cleared the Levinsons of any wrongdoing.
Union director Michael Weiner said Tuesday that the Players Association has no plans to reopen an investigation into ACES unless new evidence surfaces that would implicate the Levinsons directly. MLB, on the other hand, seems to believe that there is more than enough evidence to investigate.
As Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish reported Tuesday, several rival agencies are upset that ACES has not been punished for their part in the league’s latest PED scandal and believe that there is no way the agency didn’t know this was going on under their noses.
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