Former major-league shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt was one of four men arrested last week accused of staging an automobile accident to collect insurance money.
Betancourt, 42, played parts of nine seasons with the Mariners, Royals and Brewers. A native of Cuba, Betancourt’s last year in Major League Baseball was 2013.
Betancourt, along with Abel Vera, Nancy Mercedes Pena and Maura Perez, allegedly staged a car crash and falsely documented the incident with police to receive a personal injury claim, according to a news release from the Florida Department of Financial Services.
The four allegedly staged the accident in December of 2022. Kemper Insurance was billed more than $61,000 from two different clinics and paid more than $22,800 for therapy, according to the release. Per the charges, none of the four were entitled to those benefits.
According to the release, an investigation by the division of investigative and forensic services’ Miami field office determined that the accident didn’t occur as reported based on an accident reconstruction and data gathered from the vehicle’s event data recorder.
The four were arrested on April 12, on charges of staged accident, insurance fraud, organized scheme to defraud, and grand theft. Each defendant faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges, according to the release.
Betancourt started 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 Cuban National Series, agreeing to a deal with Villa Clara, his original team in his home country, but he didn’t play a game with Villa Clara.
According to Baseball-Reference, Betancourt made almost $16 million in his playing career.
(Photo of Betancourt: Mike McGinnis / Getty Images)
