BA: In Latin America, New Fraud Models Emerge To Combat DNA Tests

MLB made the next move in the cat-and-mouse game by instituting DNA testing for international signees in select cases, the first notable example coming in 2009 with Miguel Sano. Rest assured, however, that even more sophisticated fraud schemes are in the offing…..

One of the most noted fraud cases involved Nationals shortstop Carlos Alvarez, who signed for $1.4 million in 2006 as Esmailyn Gonzalez with an age four years younger than what his real date of birth gave him. Two years later the Padres signed a player known as Alvaro Aristy, who grabbed a $1 million bonus before MLB discovered he was really Jorge Leandro Guzman and had sliced two and a half years off his age.

Some players still try similar schemes, but DNA testing creates a major impediment to their success. Had MLB used DNA testing at the time, the signings of players like Alvarez and Guzman likely would not have been approved because their DNA would not have matched the DNA of their fake families.

Those whose signings are held up by DNA tests could still try to explain away the results. If the player’s DNA matches the mother but not the father, for example, the mother could simply say the player has a different biological father than he believed. Issues with a country’s record-keeping system also can be used as excuses, but a DNA mismatch with an immediate family member is a glaring red flag.

According to international sources familiar with the process, however, trainers and others are developing even more elaborate schemes to beat the DNA test—a Version 2.0 of the Alvarez/Guzman model of deception. Instead of swapping the identity of only the player, now the swap involves multiple family members, with the mothers as the most crucial components.

We may need MLB to hire Maury Povich to sort out this mess.