Inside Dominican kickback scandal

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07:57 AM ET 09.16
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In a wildly unregulated frontier where coaches, talent hunters, street agents, and assorted hustlers jockey to cash in on boys with multimillion-dollar baseball promise, Pablo Lantigua joined the jobless masses here when the Sox fired him amid an investigation into scouts pocketing kickbacks from signing bonuses to Latin American players. The scandal broke amid a dramatic spike in the bonus money flowing into the Dominican Republic - about $33 million last year to a country half the size of Maine - and has compelled Major League Baseball to more vigorously police the way teams do business in Latin America. Lantigua is one of six major league scouts who have been fired during the investigation - the Chicago White Sox have dismissed three, the Yankees two - and the number is expected to grow. Several individuals who deal with big league scouts in the Dominican Republic said kickbacks have become more common as signing bonuses have ballooned. Lantigua said he was fired for accepting a gift from a "buscone," a talent hunter, who represents a Sox prospect. Lantigua did not specify the gift or identify the player or buscone, but Alberto Arias, who operates a youth baseball program in Santo Domingo, said Lantigua told him the transaction involved a player the Sox signed in the coastal city of Haina. Arias said his gift to Lantigua was not a kickback. He said Lantigua never asked for money or discussed any inappropriate transactions. Arias said he has long presented gifts - from bottles of whiskey to cash - to scouts for the Sox and other teams that sign his players. "It's part of our culture," he said. "If you help me, I give you a present to show my appreciation."

Boston Globe

Chicago White Sox, AP

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September 16, 2008 08:06 AM ET

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If I was stuck in the ghettos of South America, I would be skimming off the top too. Just sayin.

U.S. Government

Washington, DC

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September 16, 2008 09:30 AM ET

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Apparently, that's what "community organizers" also do in the Dominican.

MrMiyagiJr

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September 16, 2008 09:42 AM ET

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Kickbacks are bad, but the baseball concentration camps are still ok? Just checkin', I gotta part-time gig with Amnesty Int...investigating illicit Latin Activities.

The TRUTH

Someplacein, OH

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September 16, 2008 11:11 AM ET

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Kickbacks aren't bad. I get'em all the time from the Feds.

Hey, it's a livin'.

It's a bag, man

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September 16, 2008 11:26 AM ET

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Other cultures deal with bribery differently. that is not to say we can not demand that monies paid out by American corporations are used for what they are intended.