CHICAGO (AP) — New York Mets right-hander Luis Severino will start on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs instead of facing the Yankees in the first Subway Series of the season.
Severino spent his first eight seasons with the Yankees, going 54-37 with a 3.79 ERA in 141 games, including 125 starts. He signed a $13 million, one-year contract with the Mets over the winter.
The 30-year-old Severino was in line to face his former team on Tuesday night. But he was moved up to the finale against the Cubs, and David Peterson was pushed back from Sunday to the opener of the two-game set at Citi Field.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday the team liked Severino throwing against the Cubs, and then using left-handers Peterson and Sean Manaea against the Yankees. Severino will be on regular rest against Chicago.
Mendoza said he explained the decision to Severino and Peterson, and “they were both on board.” The manager also said Peterson is healthy.
Severino was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision at Texas on Tuesday in his last start. Peterson pitched six innings of two-run ball in a 14-2 win over the Rangers on Monday night in his last outing.
The Mets were off on Thursday, and then beat the Cubs 11-1 in Friday's series opener. They visit the Yankees next month for another two-game set.
Also Friday, New York placed catcher Luis Torrens on the paternity list and recalled catcher Joe Hudson from Triple-A Syracuse.
The Mets also claimed outfielder Duke Ellis off waivers from the Chicago White Sox and optioned him to Double-A Binghamton. The speedy Ellis made his major league debut on June 4 and swiped four bases in eight appearances with Chicago.
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New York Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino throws a pitch to the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
PANAMA CITY (AP) — A judge has acquitted 28 people accused of money laundering in an international case known as the Panama Papers, including the co-founder of a law firm that authorities say was at the center of a conspiracy to hide money linked to illegal activities.
Jürgen Mossack founded Mossack & Fonseca with then associate Ramón Fonseca, who died in May. Mossack was acquitted on Friday along with others after a Panamanian judge found that the evidence against Mossack didn't comply with the chain of custody after authorities raided the office of the now defunct firm.
Prosecutors had accused Mossack, Fonseca and others of creating offshore companies and using complex transactions to hide money from illegal activities related to the so-called car wash corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to a charge related to using shell companies to hide millions of dollars in bribes paid worldwide to win public contracts.
The judge noted that other evidence in the Panama Papers case “was not sufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the accused.”
In addition, the judge lifted personal and property precautionary measures against all the defendants, according to a judicial statement.
“We feel satisfied in the midst of mixed emotions, because many lives were affected along the way,” Guillermina Mc Donald, who was the defense attorney for Mossack and Fonseca, told The Associated Press. Her firm also represented 80% of the accused firm’s collaborators.
Judge Balaoisa Marquínez had decided to combine the Panama Papers case with another known as “Operation Car Wash,” a major anti-corruption investigation that began in Brazil.
On Friday, she ruled that in the car wash case, “it was not possible to determine the entry of money from illicit sources, coming from Brazil, into the Panamanian financial system with the purpose of hiding, concealing, disguising or helping to evade the legal consequences of the preceding crime.”
In June 2022, Mossack, Fonseca and 37 other people were acquitted in a separate money laundering case.
The investigation in Brazil began in 2014, with the Mossack & Fonseca firm later coming under scrutiny after 11 million financial documents tied to the company were leaked.
The repercussions of the leak were widespread: it led to the resignation of a prime minister in Iceland and brought scrutiny to now former leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.
FILE - Juergen Mossack, partner of the law firm Mossack-Fonseca, leaves the Supreme Court during the trial of the "Panama Papers" money laundering case in Panama City, April 8, 2024. On Friday, a Panamanian judge acquitted Mossack and 27 other people who were accused of money laundering in the notorious Panama Papers case. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera, File)
