A-Rod paid cousin Yuri Sucart $900,000 in hush money

Alex Rodriguez paid his infamous cousin Yuri Sucart $900,000 in hush money, according to a new report.

A-Rod was suspended 211 games by MLB last year (later reduced to 162 games after a successful appeal) for his role in the Biogenesis scandal. As A-Rod was preparing to defend himself against MLB’s charges, his cousin, Yuri Sucart, sought hush money.

Sucart threatened to sue A-Rod in March, 2013 for $5 million on grounds of defamation, libel and fraud. The New York Daily News reports that Rodriguez later settled with Sucart a few months later and agreed to pay his cousin $900,000.

Below are some of the contents of a legal letter sent by Sucart’s lawyer to A-Rod. Via the Daily News:

“(Yuri) was trained to serve as a personal assistant to professional baseball players,” Sucart’s lawyer wrote. “Due to your use of performance-enhancing substances, Yuri was wrongly blamed. Nonetheless, Yuri remains able and willing to continue to serve you and your needs as a personal assistant, within the restrictions that baseball has placed upon him. He does not wish to and does not intend to ever speak to the MLB unless he is subpoenaed.”

The “he does not wish to and does not intend to ever speak” to MLB part is the section implying A-Rod paid for his cousin’s silence.

The letter also mentions the “restrictions” placed upon Sucart by MLB; Sucart has infamously been described as A-Rod’s steroids mule and has been banned from the Yankees’ clubhouse and MLB ballparks.

Sucart is being charged in federal court on grounds of conspiracy to distribute testosterone and human growth hormone. A-Rod is believed to be a witness in the case.

Don’t feel too badly for Sucart; it seems like he is at least a well-paid defendant.