Bans of Bad Bunny Baseball Agency Executives Upheld by Arbitrator

Current bans on executives for singer Bad Bunny’s baseball agency were upheld this week by an arbitrator.

On October 30, arbitrator Ruth M. Moscovitch upheld five-year suspensions for the chief executives of Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports agency, citing improper inducements offered to players. The decision became public on Tuesday after the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a petition to confirm the decision.

The firm’s only certified baseball agent had their suspension reduced to three years.

The Ban

On April 10, the union issued disciplinary notices revoking William Arroyo’s agent certification and denying certifications for Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda, pointing to a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. The action bars them from reapplying for five years and prohibits certified agents from working with the three or any affiliated companies.

Assad, Miranda and Arroyo appealed, leading to Moscovitch’s appointment as arbitrator on June 17.

Moscovitch stated that the union had presented undisputed evidence of the “use of non-certified personnel to talk with and recruit players; use of uncertified staff to negotiate terms of players’ employment; giving things of value—concert tickets, gifts, money—to non-client players; providing loans, money, or other things of value to non-clients as inducements; providing or facilitating loans without seeking prior approval or reporting the loans.”

“I find MLBPA has met its burden to prove the alleged violations of regulations with substantial evidence on the record as a whole,” Moscovitch wrote in the ruling. “There can be no doubt that these are serious violations, both in the number of violations and the range of misconduct. As MLBPA executive director Anthony Clark testified, he has never seen so many violations of so many different regulations over a significant period of time.”

Rimas Sports

Rimas Sports spokesperson María de Lourdes Martínez said she was verifying whether the company would comment on the ruling. Arroyo did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment.

Arroyo’s clients included New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder Ronny Mauricio.

In the ruling, Moscovitch said, “While it is true, as MLBPA alleges, that Mr. Arroyo violated the rules by not supervising uncertified personnel as they recruited players, he was put in that position by his employers.”

“The regulations hold him vicariously liable for the actions of uncertified personnel at the agency. The reality is that he was put in an impossible position: the regulations impose on him supervisory authority over all of the uncertified operatives at Rimas, but in reality, he was their underling, with no authority over anyone,” the ruling added.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.