CLEVELAND, Ohio - Federal prosecutors say Emmanuel Clase was carrying more than $670,000 in back taxes during the same stretch when he’s accused of helping bettors rig pitches, and they now want jurors in Brooklyn to hear that as part of the case against the Guardians closer.
In a filing late Tuesday, prosecutors asked the judge to let them present evidence that Clase owed money to the IRS and state tax authorities while he was under a $20 million contract. They say that debt helps explain why the All-Star reliever would risk his career by intentionally missing the strike zone or throwing pitches slower than expected.
The filing is the first time prosecutors have pointed to a possible motive for Clase. His contract also included a path to $16 million more if the option for 2026 and 2027 was picked up, and if he stayed healthy he likely would have been in line for a major free-agent payday.
Instead, Clase was suspended in 2025 during a Major League Baseball and FBI investigation and has remained on unpaid leave.
His trial began Nov. 2. Clase, the Guardians’ franchise all-time leader in saves, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering.
Prosecutors say he coordinated 18 pitches with bettors from 2023 to 2025, most often on the first pitch to the first batter he faced. They say bettors collected about $460,000 from those pitches.
He is also accused of coordinating two pitches with bettors and former teammate Luis Ortiz, who is facing similar charges in his own trial. Prosecutors have already said Ortiz owed $1.4 million to a company that loaned money to young baseball players in exchange for future payments if those players reached the majors.
Until now, prosecutors had not laid out a similar theory for Clase. That changed with Tuesday’s filing, which says he owed $500,000 for tax years 2022 and 2023, plus another $178,000 for tax year 2024. According to the filing, he entered a repayment plan with the IRS in March 2025 and also owed “several thousand dollars” in state taxes.
The government says Clase’s own defense opened the door to that evidence by arguing there was no reason for him to jeopardize his career for a few thousand dollars from bettors.
“In sum, Clase has squarely put his motive at issue by arguing that he lacked any financial reason to participate in the charged fraudulent scheme,” prosecutors wrote. “In response, the government must be permitted to introduce evidence to rebut his assertion and establish that he did, in fact, have a significant financial motive to commit the charged crimes because of certain economic struggles.”
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