A-Rod’s cousin reportedly shook him down for nearly $1 million 
The word “extortion” does not appear in a New York Daily News story published Monday night about Yuri Sucart shaking down his cousin, Alex Rodriguez, for nearly $1 million so he would keep quiet about A-Rod’s performance-enhancing drug use. But that’s what “Cousin Yuri” allegedly did, according to papers filed this past week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Sucart probably could have squeezed more money out of Rodriguez, but many of the activities related to Biogenesis, a now-shuttered clinic in Miami reputed to be a PED distribution center for major league players and others, were becoming public knowledge in other ways. Rodriguez recently finished serving his suspension for the 2014 season, though the Biogenesis story drags on for those who are defendants against the U.S. government.
Such defendants appear to include Tony Bosch — the clinic’s director, who already has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing — and Sucart, who has pleaded not guilty. Sources for the Daily News suggest that A-Rod might be a witness against Sucart. And why not? With cousins like him, who needs enemies?
The Daily News writes:
Prosecutor Patrick Sullivan said in the court papers that Rodriguez “has a prominent role in the government’s proof of Count 1 and Count 2 conspiracies to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone,” which suggests the disgraced Yankee slugger may be a witness against Sucart.
“That is what it sounds like. It sounds like A-Rod is a potential witness against his cousin,” Sucart’s court-appointed attorney, Edward O’Donnell IV, told the Daily News. “They are not allies, that’s for sure, or friends.”
These might be the least revelatory revelations in the history of revelations. The Daily News post includes more details about when A-Rod paid off Yuri, and in what kind of increments, as if everyone didn’t already realize what a dirty business they all were involved in.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
