Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig is reportedly facing a $12 million lawsuit from a man in Cuba. According to the LA Times, a man by the name of Miguel Angel Corbacho Daudinot claims Puig knowingly made false accusations against him which resulted in a seven-year prison sentence.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Florida, seeks damages for what has been described as “prolonged arbitrary detention and torture.” Puig’s agent Jaime Torres said Puig’s camp is aware of the lawsuit but will not be commenting on it at this time.
While Corbacho Daudinot is still in Cuba, his lawyers are arguing that there is legal precedent which allows his case to be filed in US court. As Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times pointed out, the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 permits civil cases to be filed in the US against individuals who commit torture while acting in an official capacity for a foreign nation. The complaint claims Puig and his mother acted as “informants” for the government.
In 2010, Puig and his mother testified in a trial where Corbacho Daudinot was convicted of human trafficking for allegedly plotting Puig’s escape from Cuba. Corbacho Daudinot denies offering to help Puig, and he claims Puig and his mother made false claims against him to prove their allegiance to Cuba and be reinstated in Cuba’s top baseball league.
Corbacho Daudinot spent 3 1/2 years in prison and is supposed to serve the second half of his sentence under a “provisional liberty” program. He is restricted from returning to his home country of the Dominican Republic and his lawyers claim Corbacho Daudinot is in poor physical and mental health because of his time in prison.
Puig signed a seven-year, $42 million contract with the Dodgers two years ago.
