Yuniesky Betancourt, a former major league shortstop, was one of four men arrested last week, accused of staging a car crash to collect insurance money.
Betancourt, 42, played nine seasons with the Mariners, Royals and Brewers. Originally from Cuba, Betancourt’s last year in Major League Baseball was in 2013.
Betancourt, along with Abel Vera, Nancy Mercedes Pena and Maura Perez, allegedly staged a car accident and falsely documented the incident with police to receive a personal injury claim, according to a press release from the Department of Financial Services of Florida.
The four allegedly staged the accident in December 2022. Kemper Insurance was billed more than $61,000 by two different clinics and paid more than $22,800 for therapy, according to the release. According to the charges, none of the four were entitled to these benefits.
According to the release, an investigation by the Forensic and Investigative Services Division’s Miami field office determined that the accident did not occur as reported, based on a reconstruction of the accident and data collected from the vehicle’s event data recorder.
The four men were arrested April 12 on charges of staging an accident, insurance fraud, organized scheme to defraud and grand larceny. Each defendant faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on all counts, according to the release.
Betancourt began his career in Cuba before defecting to Mexico in 2003 and was signed by Seattle in 2005, debuting with the Mariners later that year. He was traded to the Royals in 2009 and was later traded along with pitcher Zack Greinke to the Brewers for four players: Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi.
After another stint with the Royals and one with the Brewers, he went to Japan in 2015 and played in Mexico until 2019. After playing in Mexico, he became the first MLB player to return to the Series Cuban national team, by accepting an agreement with Villa. Clara, his original team in his home country, but he did not play any matches with Villa Clara.
According to Baseball-ReferenceBetancourt earned nearly $16 million during his playing career.
(Betancourt Photo: Mike McGinnis / Getty Images)