Almost $1 million spread over several wire payments

Yankees star Alex Rodriguez allegedly paid a cousin almost $1 million to keep him from discussing the athlete’s use of performance enhancing drugs, federal prosecutors said in court documents filed last week, according to a report on Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege in the documents that Yuri Sucart, who was Rodriguez’s personal assistant, had requested $5 million and a house in exchange for his silence, the Associated Press reports. In response, they add, Rodriguez gave Sucart $900,000 and provided him access to a home and car, as well as other benefits.

Officials released the documents after Sucart, who was charged in the summer with conspiring to distribute human growth hormone and testosterone, requested a public defender in the case.

[AP]