In front of a federal grand jury in Miami on Wednesday, White Sox slugger Jose Abreu said he once ate a fake passport while flying to the US to cover up his illegal travel. This comes as part of an investigation into a smuggling operation that brought Cuban baseball players to the country.
On an Air France flight from Haiti to Miami, Abreu testified that he had ordered a beer and slowly ate the page which contained a false name and photo. He also said he traveled illegally because he was worried he’d miss an October 2013 deadline and lose out on the eventual $68 million contract he signed with the White Sox.
“If I had not been there on that particular day, the deadline, then the contract would not be executed and would no longer be valid,” Abreu told jurors. “We had to be in Chicago to sign the contract.”
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“Little by little I swallowed that first page of the passport. I could not arrive in the United States with a false passport,” he said.
Florida sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Julio Estrada are accused of alien smuggling and conspiracy as they are alleged to have operated a ring that took Cuban players from the island to third countries where they could eventually sign MLB contracts once they established residency. Other players testifying in this trial include the Marlins’ Adeiny Hechavarria as well as the Mariners’ Leonys Martin.