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Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years

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Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years
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Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years

2024-11-14 06:55 Last Updated At:07:01

NEW YORK (AP) — An arbitrator upheld five-year suspensions of the chief executives of Bad Bunny’s sports representation firm for making improper inducements to players and cut the ban of the company's only certified baseball agent to three years.

Ruth M. Moscovitch issued the ruling Oct. 30 in a case involving Noah Assad, Jonathan Miranda and William Arroyo of Rimas Sports. The decision became become public Tuesday when the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a petition to confirm the 80-page decision in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The union issued a notice of discipline on April 10 revoking Arroyo's agent certification and denying certification to Assad and Miranda, citing a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. It barred them from reapplying for five years and prohibited certified agents from associating with any of the three or their affiliated companies. Assad, Miranda and Arroyo then appealed the decision, and Moscovitch was jointly appointed as the arbitrator on June 17.

Moscovitch said the union presented unchallenged evidence of “use of non-certified personnel to talk with and recruit players; use of uncertified staff to negotiate terms of players’ employment; giving things of value — concert tickets, gifts, money — to non-client players; providing loans, money, or other things of value to non-clients as inducements; providing or facilitating loans without seeking prior approval or reporting the loans.”

“I find MLBPA has met its burden to prove the alleged violations of regulations with substantial evidence on the record as a whole,” she wrote. “There can be no doubt that these are serious violations, both in the number of violations and the range of misconduct. As MLBPA executive director Anthony Clark testified, he has never seen so many violations of so many different regulations over a significant period of time.”

María de Lourdes Martínez, a spokeswoman for Rimas Sports, said the company declined to comment. Arroyo did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

Moscovitch held four in-person hearings from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 and three on video from Oct. 10-16.

“While these kinds of gifts are standard in the entertainment business, under the MLBPA regulations, agents and agencies simply are not permitted to give them to non-clients,” she said.

Arroyo's clients included Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and teammate Ronny Mauricio.

“While it is true, as MLBPA alleges, that Mr. Arroyo violated the rules by not supervising uncertified personnel as they recruited players, he was put in that position by his employers,” Moscovitch wrote. “The regulations hold him vicariously liable for the actions of uncertified personnel at the agency. The reality is that he was put in an impossible position: the regulations impose on him supervisory authority over all of the uncertified operatives at Rimas, but in reality, he was their underling, with no authority over anyone.”

In its petition to the court, the MLBPA asked the court to confirm Moscovitch's decision and to order the three individuals to pay the union $400,000, the amount they were fined by the union, plus interest dating from Moscovitch's decision.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

FILE - Bad Bunny appears in the press room at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Bad Bunny appears in the press room at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

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Buros debuts at fullback as France makes four changes to face New Zealand

2024-11-14 18:54 Last Updated At:19:00

PARIS (AP) — Bordeaux fullback Romain Buros makes his test debut for France in one of four changes from the side which routed Japan to face New Zealand in autumn rugby at Stade de France on Saturday.

Buros replaces Leo Barré, and Gabin Villière comes in at right wing with Damian Penaud ill and his matchday replacement, Théo Attissogbe, out with a sprained left ankle.

Veteran center Gaël Fickou comes back into midfield for his 92nd cap alongside Yoram Moefana, with Émilien Gailleton going to the reserves.

The lone change in the forwards sees Paul Boudehent — who scored two second-half tries in the 52-12 win against Japan — replacing a concussed François Cros at flanker in coach Fabien Galthié's side.

Regular fullback Thomas Ramos stays at flyhalf alongside star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont, whose scoring touch was not even required last Saturday, when Les Tricolores crossed for eight tries at Stade de France.

Flanker Thibaud Flament has shaken off a blow to the knee from that game and lines up with Alexandre Roumat and No. 8 Grégory Alldritt in the back row.

The bench has a 6-2 split with flanker and former captain Charles Ollivon returning after being omitted from the matchday 23 against Japan.

Scrumhalf Maxime Lucu and flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert drop out with scrumhalf Nolann Le Garrec joining Gailleton on the bench.

France and New Zealand met in the opening game of the 2023 World Cup, which France won 27-13 with Jalibert a starter. The All Blacks went on to reach the final at Stade de France, losing to South Africa.

New Zealand dramatically edged England 24-22 two weeks ago at Twickenham and beat Ireland 23-13 in Dublin last Friday.

France comes back to the national stadium next Friday to complete its autumn campaign against Argentina.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

New Zealand's Jordie Barrett, centre, is tackled by England's Ollie Lawrence, left, during the Autumn Nations Series rugby match between England and New Zealand, at Twickenham stadium, in London Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

New Zealand's Jordie Barrett, centre, is tackled by England's Ollie Lawrence, left, during the Autumn Nations Series rugby match between England and New Zealand, at Twickenham stadium, in London Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

New Zealand's Jordie Barrett, center, is tackled by Ireland's Finlay Bealham, left, and James Ryan (5) during the Autumn international rugby match, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

New Zealand's Jordie Barrett, center, is tackled by Ireland's Finlay Bealham, left, and James Ryan (5) during the Autumn international rugby match, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

France's Antoine Dupont makes a break during the Autumn Nations series rugby union match between France and Japan at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

France's Antoine Dupont makes a break during the Autumn Nations series rugby union match between France and Japan at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

France's coach Fabien Galthie watches his team warm-up for the Autumn Nations series rugby union match between France and Japan at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

France's coach Fabien Galthie watches his team warm-up for the Autumn Nations series rugby union match between France and Japan at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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