In a lawsuit filed late yesterday against Major League Baseball, Alex Rodriguez claims the league paid Tony Bosch — the proprietor of a Miami "anti-aging" clinic said to have supplied Rodriguez with performance-enhancing drugs — as part of a "witch hunt" to force Rodriguez out of the sport. The lawsuit was first reported by the New York Times.
Rodriguez's complaint says the MLB paid $5 million to Bosch, the former head of the Biogenesis clinic, to "buy his cooperation" and also paid an investigator $150,000 in cash for stolen records related to the New York Yankees star.
The lawsuit accuses MLB of engaging in tortious interference, "essentially interfering with Rodriguez's existing contracts and future business relationships," according to the Times. MLB commissioner Bud Selig was named as a defendant in the suit.
The suit was filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan as Rodriguez and his legal team have spent the week appealing a 211-game ban issued by Major League Baseball for his role in the Biogenesis scandal. It's not immediately clear if the lawsuit will affect the arbitration hearing; Rodriguez has told other media outlets that the suit is separate from the hearing.