Ryan Braun may be short one friend in his inner circle when this is all over.
A friend of Braun’s filed a lawsuit in July charging that the suspended outfielder defamed him after that friend helped Braun in the appeal of his positive steroid test in 2011, according the ESPN.com. The suit alleges that Ralph Sasson, a law student, was contacted by Braun’s agent in November 2011, after Braun was notified by MLB that he had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. Sasson was reportedly sought out to conduct background research on Dino Laurenzi Jr., the man who collected Braun’s urine sample.
The lawsuit says Sasson was forced to publicly threaten Braun and his agent with a lawsuit in order to recover $5,000 that he says was promised, and that he was paid last year when he agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Things went sour for Sasson, though, when he says that Braun violated the agreement they had by making defamatory statements about him to unknown parties.
Sasson makes a number of other personal accusations against Braun in the lawsuit, saying that Braun used PEDs through his years at the University of Miami, committed academic fraud and accepted money while a student.
