Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports Files Lawsuit Against MLBPA Alleging Discrimination

Rimas Sports, the agency founded by three-time Grammy Award winner Bad Bunny, filed a federal lawsuit against the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday over allegations of discrimination.

Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the lawsuit accused the MLBPA of “placing a death penalty” on the agency through “a discriminatory, biased, and pre-determined investigation” into the company’s business practices.

Last month, the MLBPA accused Rimas Sports of providing improper benefits to players and decertified agent William Arroyo while also blocking Rimas executives Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda from seeking certification. The lawsuit stated that Michael Velasquez, Rimas’ other MLBPA-certified agent, was also threatened with decertification and wound up quitting the company.

Rimas filed the 27-page complaint in the United States District Court in Puerto Rico and is seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction against the sanctions levied by the MLBPA. The company is arguing that the punishments were “designed to put Rimas Sports permanently out of business” and alleged that the union had “exceeded the scope of its statutory authority under the National Labor Relations Act.”

“By blanketly prohibiting any MLBPA certified agents from affiliating with Rimas Sports and Rimas Entertainment in any capacity,” the complaint said, “the MLBPA has effectively placed a death-penalty sanction on Rimas Sports as an agency and prohibited Rimas Entertainment, which is not in the sports agency business and has never had a MLBPA Certified Agent, from contracting with clients who may wish to secure branding, sponsorship or endorsement deals. These restrictions extend well beyond the scope of the MLBPA’s authority to regulate its agents.”

Rimas previously attempted to get a temporary restraining order that would relieve the penalties against Arroyo, Assad and Miranda, but an arbitrator denied the agency. An appeal of their individual penalties was filed before the May 10 deadline and will be determined by the American Arbitration Association.

Rimas was established in 2021 by Assad, Miranda and Bad Bunny with the intent of catering to players from Latin America. The company built a client list that included New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, Mets prospect Ronny Mauricio and Colorado shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. The company alleged in the lawsuit that it was barred from continuing to negotiate a contract extension for Alvarez and attempting to sign reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr.

“The MLBPA knew, or should have known, that such actions have caused and will continue to cause severe and agency-killing harm to the Rimas Companies,” the complaint stated. “In fact, the intended effect of the MLBPA’s actions was precisely to eliminate the Rimas Companies from participating altogether in the sports agency market for MLB and MiLB players.”