Convictions upheld in Cuban baseball player smuggling

August 13, 2020

Jim Saunders

TALLAHASSEE --- A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the convictions of two South Florida men in a smuggling operation that brought Cuban baseball players to the United States to play in the major leagues.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by baseball trainer Julio Estrada and agent Bartolo Hernandez, who received cuts of multimillion-dollar contracts that players signed with professional teams. The men were convicted on conspiracy and smuggling charges in 2017 in federal district court in Miami.

Thursday’s 57-page ruling said Estrada and Hernandez took part in an operation that smuggled Cuban players into Mexico, Haiti or the Dominican Republican, where the players received fraudulent documents to establish residency in the countries. The false residency documents allowed players to receive what are known as “unblocking licenses” that allowed them to enter contracts with major-league teams. The ruling said players also sometimes used false documents to receive visas that allowed them to come to the United States.

The appeals court said it found sufficient evidence to show that Estrada and Hernandez conspired to improperly bring Cuban players to the United States.

“(The) evidence showed that: Estrada and Hernandez identified talented Cuban baseball players and partnered with a criminal smuggling organization to smuggle those players into the United States; Estrada either paid for the players’ travel expenses or connected them with a contact who would plan and finance their trips from Cuba to the United States border; the smuggling operation paid immigration officials to procure fraudulent residency documents, which Hernandez used to obtain unblocking licenses and visas; Estrada, Hernandez, and other co-conspirators met with the players once they crossed the border and assisted them with MLB (Major League Baseball) negotiations; and Estrada and Hernandez signed contracts with the players obligating them to pay a percentage of their baseball earnings,” said the ruling, written by Judge Jill Pryor and joined by Judges Robin Rosenbaum and Elizabeth Branch.

The ruling detailed the involvement of Estrada and Hernandez with four players who signed major-league contracts. Perhaps the best-known player is Jose Abreu, who signed a $68 million contract with the Chicago White Sox, according to the ruling. The others were Leonys Martin, who signed a contract with the Texas Rangers; Omar Luis, who signed a contract with the New York Yankees; and Dalier Hinojosa, who signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox.

In the appeal, Estrada and Hernandez argued, in part, that the Cuban Adjustment Act and what was known as the “wet-foot/dry-foot” immigration policy allowed the players to come to the United States and stay in the country. The Cuban Adjustment Act, which dates to the 1960s, provided a key path for Cuban citizens to apply for permanent residency in the United States, while the “wet-foot/dry foot” policy addressed Cubans who made it to U.S. shores.

But the ruling rejected the arguments by Estrada and Hernandez, saying they were similar to arguments that the Atlanta-based appeals court rejected in another player-smuggling case known as United States v. Dominguez.

“The defendants’ argument that the CAA (Cuban Adjustment Act) and the Wet-Foot/Dry-Foot policy gave the players ‘prior official authorization’ to enter the United States is foreclosed by Dominguez,” Pryor wrote. “We reject their attempts to distinguish Dominguez on legal and factual grounds.”

The district court sentenced Estrada to 63 months in prison and Hernandez to 46 months, Thursday’s ruling said. In a footnote, it said Hernandez sought a reduction in his sentence because he was the only potential caregiver for his 84-year-old mother during the coronavirus pandemic. His sentence was reduced to the time he had served, and he was placed on home confinement until April 2021.