Ex-White Sox scouting exec indicted
On several occasions, Ozzie Guillen has said he can take $50,0000 down to Latin America and sign 50 prospects.
Guillen often laughed about the declaration, but the White Sox' Venezuelan-born manager knows conditions in his native country, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, Mexico and other Latino nations are desperate.
For every Miguel Cabrera, Felix Hernandez and Vladimir Guerrero, there are thousands of prospects willing to settle for minimal money, lie about their age, use performance-enhancing drugs or, in the case of Cuba, defect to get a shot at playing major-league baseball.
On Aug. 1, Guillen made international headlines by again criticizing the way young players from Latin America are treated.
“It's somebody behind the scenes making money out of those kids and telling them to take something they're not supposed to,” Guillen said, referring to PEDs. “You take this, you're going to be Vladimir Guerrero, you're going to be Miguel Cabrera, you're going to be this guy.
“And they say, ‘I'll do it, because I have seven brothers that sleep in the same room. I have to take care of my mother, my dad. I'm going to make money to make them better.'”
David Wilder, former White Sox minor-league director and later senior director of player personnel, has been charged with exploiting players in impoverished areas of Latin America between 2004-08.
Along with two former Sox scouts Jorge L. Oquendo Rivera and Victor Mateo Wilder on Wednesday was indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly accepting kickbacks from signing bonuses and contract buyouts.
“These defendants allegedly defrauded their employer and enriched themselves by taking advantage of vulnerable ballplayers who were anxious to pursue their dreams of stardom in the major leagues,” said Robert Grant, of the FBI's Chicago office.
Wilder, 50, was charged with seven counts of mail fraud. If convicted, he could face 20 years in prison for each count.
The seven mail-fraud counts allege that checks ranging from $30,000 to $525,000 were sent from the White Sox to players or teams for the contract rights to players. Wilder and the scouts are charged with inflating signing bonuses of prospects, then kicking back the money to themselves.
According to the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, Wilder, Rivera and Mateo pocketed roughly $400,000 on 23 prospects between 2004-08.
The Sox fired Wilder in 2008.
White Sox general manager Kenny Williams hired Wilder, his close friend, in 2003. Williams did not respond to an interview request Wednesday.
The 23 Latino prospects were not the only ones victimized by Wilder, according to the U.S. States Attorney's news release.
“To provide for kickbacks, Wilder, Oquendo (Rivera) and Mateo allegedly misrepresented to the White Sox the amount of money necessary to sign certain players and omitted information about the payments, causing the Sox to pay artificially and fraudulently inflated signing bonuses to players and causing the Sox to purchase the contracts of and rights to players from other teams at artificially and fraudulently inflated prices,” the statement said.
The Sox issued their own statement Wednesday:
“The Chicago White Sox commend the diligence and hard work shown by Federal authorities and Major League Baseball in reaching today's indictments.
“Since the White Sox first reported our internal findings to Major League Baseball, MLB and its clubs have taken important and positive steps to establish processes in Latin America that are designed to better protect Latin players, as well as Major League Baseball's teams, from being victimized by illegal activities related to scouting and signing players.”