A four-minute audio recording was once disclosed through federal prosecutors Thursday that displays Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly making an attempt to push thru a six-figure twine switch from one of the vital Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar’s accounts through impersonating him.
Mizuhara has been convicted of defrauding Ohtani, the National League MVP and global baseball celebrity, and the recording, got through The Athletic from the Segment of Justice, is a key piece of proof.
It was once discussed in a court docket submitting, which additionally had prosecutors recommending a just about five-year sentence for Mizuhara and an series to pay off Ohtani, in line with The Athletic.
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Ippei Mizuhara pleaded responsible June 4, 2024, to store and tax fraud in a sports activities making a bet case and admitted stealing just about $17 million from Shohei Ohtani. (AP Photograph/Eric Thayer, Record)
Mizuhara, who’s scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6, pleaded guilty to store fraud and submitting a fraudelant tax go back next stealing virtually $17 million from Ohtani, who he was once highest pals with for years, in June 2024.
The recording was once got from a store, colleague U.S. legal professional Jeff Mitchell instructed The Athletic, and it helps prosecutors’ claims that Mizuhara would name banks to organize twine transfers.
Prosecutors added that the recording was once edited to redact store names and the title of an “unindicated co-conspirator.”
FORMER SHOHEI OHTANI INTERPRETER PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES IN SPORTS BETTING CASE
Within the recording, Mizuhara obviously states his title is Ohtani next the store agent asks, “Who am I speaking with?” Mizuhara bypassed the store’s security features and altered Ohtani’s account knowledge to incorporate his personal e-mail and make contact with quantity.
So, when the store agent asks Mizuhara to accomplish a two-factor authentication the usage of a six-digit code despatched to a telephone quantity, he can achieve this as it’s committing to his telephone rather of Ohtani’s.
The recording displays Mizuhara similar the numbers, which permits the agent to paintings on his request, a automobile mortgage for $200,000.
“Now recently, we’ve come across a trend of fraud and scams, so we have been monitoring the online transactions closely to make sure our clients are not the victim of either,” the agent says first. “What is the reason for this transaction?”
Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara of the Los Angeles Dodgers all over a press convention at Dodger Stadium Dec. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Rob Leiter/MLB Pictures by the use of Getty Photographs)
After, the agent asks “Ohtani” what his courting to the payee is, to which Mizuhara says, “He’s my friend.”
“Have you met your friend in person”” the agent responds.
“Sure, again and again,” Mizuhara answered.
Mizuhara said he stole from Ohtani to cover “primary playing debt,” which he said in a brief statement after pleading guilty.
“I went forward and stressed cash … together with his store account,” Mizuhara said in the statement at the time.
Prosecutors asked that the restitution amount bet set at nearly $17 million for Ohtani, though it was noted Mizuhara is unable to pay that back to the All-Star. Another $1.1 million in restitution is being sought by the IRS.
Japanese interpreter Ippei Mizuhara attends a press conference at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles Dec. 14, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
The ex-interpreter’s winning bets totaled over $142 million, which he deposited into his own bank account and not Ohtani’s. His losing bets were around $183 million. He did not bet on baseball.
There is also no indication Ohtani bet on baseball.
The Athletic reported the court filing says that, between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara placed around 19,000 bets online through Matthew Bowyer, his bookie who also pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling business in August 2024.
Mizuhara’s debt was up to $40.7 million.
“His years-long robbery of finances from Mr. Ohtani and the myriad lies he instructed to Mr. Ohtani’s brokers and monetary advisors to safeguard up his robbery constitute a calculated betrayal of the very individual he was once rented to aid,” Mitchell wrote in the court filing.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, arrives at federal court in Los Angeles June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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“To summarize how I’m feeling at this time, I’m simply past surprised,” Ohtani said in a statement on the matter last year. “It’s in point of fact brittle to verbalize how I’m feeling at this level.
“I’m very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.”
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