MLBPA Accuses Bad Bunny’s Agency of Offering Players $200K Loans, NBA Tickets, More

Rimas Sports, the agency founded by rapper Bad Bunny, has been accused of several violations involving MLB players they did not represent.

Per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, the MLB Players Association accused the agency of committing “a series of grave violations” that includes offering an unnamed player an interest-free loan of $200,000, suite access to a Phoenix Suns game, VIP tickets to Bad Bunny concerts and a cash gift of $19,500 to another player who signed with the agency.

The accusations were made in a memo filed by the MLBPA with a federal court in Puerto Rico.

This comes as Rimas Sports and the MLBPA are in the midst of a legal battle over a series of alleged improper benefits being offered to players by the agency.

ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported on April 22 that the agency was facing a $400,000 fine and lead baseball agent, William Arroyo, is facing a five-year suspension after having his agent certification revoked two weeks earlier.

Gonzalez noted an arbitrator denied Rimas Sports’ request for a temporary restraining order that would have allowed Arroyo to keep representing his clients.

Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Rimas Sports filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico on May 16 accusing the MLBPA of “placing a death penalty” on the agency through “a discriminatory, biased, and predetermined investigation” into its business practices.

According to Gonzalez, MLBPA’s agent regulations specifically state no agent “shall provide, cause to provide or promise to provide any money or any other thing of value to any player, or any person related to or associated with such player” for the purposes of remaining with or joining an agency.

Rimas Sports’ MLB client list includes reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., Washington Nationals outfielder Eddie Rosario and New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez.

Bad Bunny, along with his manager, Noah Assad, launched the agency in April 2023. Gonzalez noted the idea was to build Rimas into a major brand similar to what Jay-Z did when he launched the sports-management division of Roc Nation in 2013.