Diamondbacks' Dominican prospect is a scam victim, per detailed report

A Dominican Summer League player in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, Belfi Rivera, is at the heart of a deflating story that dropped on ProPublica about young baseball players in the Dominican Republic being preyed on and scammed.

Gus Garcia-Roberts, an investigative reporter who specializes in sports, released the article on Thursday, Sept. 10. Rivera is at the forefront as Garcia-Roberts exposes Santo Caraballo, whom Garcia-Roberts describes as "one of the most notorious moneylenders profiting from Dominican baseball," for receiving $950,000 of Rivera's money despite not having anything to do with Rivera's development.

That $950,000 is part of a $1.8 million deal the Diamondbacks pledged to pay him after he turned 16. Garcia-Roberts also found that these deals are made verbally, so no records can be found if a team decides they do not want to pay the kids.

MLB finds more players in the Dominican Republic than anywhere outside of the United States, so the league sees the country as a hotbed for talent. They work to sell the kids and families on a dream that they can become the next Ketel Marte , Geraldo Perdomo or whichever Dominican star they look up to. Oftentimes, like in Rivera's case, the players and families they talk to come from poor financial backgrounds.

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Rivera was 14 years old when he was told the family's struggles would soon be over. However, in two and a half years, the $1.8 million was almost completely gone.

John Carmona, Belfi's trainer, got his 35% commission. That was $630,000. This, plus the $950,000 that Caraballo got his hands on, left Rivera with little.

Caraballo took advantage of Rivera and his parents by offering loans with excessive interest rates. Caraballo convinced Rivera and his family that he was trustworthy because Hall of Famer David Ortiz was his business partner.

Ortiz told Garcia-Roberts that he cut Caraballo off at least a year and a half ago. However, Ortiz also posted a video of him and Caraballo together on a private jet to Puerto Rico in September 2025, drinking and dancing as they headed to a Bad Bunny concert.

The promise of becoming Ortiz, the promise that Ortiz was behind the plan, targeting a poor family and finding ways to exploit Rivera's parents' struggle with literacy has placed Rivera in a tough situation.