DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A TRIAL DATE OF MAY 4, 2026, HAS BEEN SET in the case of the two Cleveland Guardians baseball players who are charged with illegal sports betting and money laundering. U.S. District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto on Tuesday, Dec. 2, scheduled the date for jury selection in U.S. v. Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz and Luis Leandro Ortiz Ribera.

Ortiz and teammate Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz were charged last month; Ortiz pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. Released on $500,000 bond, he was issued GPS monitoring and ordered to restrict travel to New York, Massachusetts and Ohio, where his team is based.

The defendants appeared in-person with their attorneys on Tuesday for a case status conference, as the government is in process of turning over discovery to the defendants. During

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