Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years

Bad Bunny performs at the Latin Billboard Awards, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

New York -

An arbitrator upheld five-year suspensions of the chief executives of Bad Bunny’s sports representation firm for making improper inducements to players and cut the ban of the company's only certified baseball agent to three years.

Ruth M. Moscovitch issued the ruling Oct. 30 in a case involving Noah Assad, Jonathan Miranda and William Arroyo of Rimas Sports. The decision became become public Tuesday when the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a petition to confirm the 80-page decision in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The union issued a notice of discipline on April 10 revoking Arroyo's agent certification and denying certification to Assad and Miranda, citing a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. It barred them from reapplying for five years and prohibited certified agents from associating with any of the three or their affiliated companies. Assad, Miranda and Arroyo then appealed the decision, and Moscovitch was jointly appointed as the arbitrator on June 17.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Moscovitch said the union presented unchallenged evidence of "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," she wrote. "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."

Maria de Lourdes Martinez, a spokeswoman for Rimas Sports, said the company declined to comment. Arroyo did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

• Top sports headlines, all in one place

Moscovitch held four in-person hearings from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 and three on video from Oct. 10-16.

"While these kinds of gifts are standard in the entertainment business, under the MLBPA regulations, agents and agencies simply are not permitted to give them to non-clients," she said.

Arroyo's clients included Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and teammate Ronny Mauricio.

"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," Moscovitch wrote. "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."

In its petition to the court, the MLBPA asked the court to confirm Moscovitch's decision and to order the three individuals to pay the union $400,000, the amount they were fined by the union, plus interest dating from Moscovitch's decision.