Ippei Mizuhara is because of be sentenced Feb. 6 after pleading responsible to financial institution fraud and subscribing to a false tax return.
LOS ANGELES — A virtually four-minute audio recording allegedly captured Shohei Ohtani ‘s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara impersonating the baseball star on a name with a financial institution as he tried to switch $200,000 for what he describes as a automobile mortgage, federal prosecutors mentioned Thursday.
The recording referenced in a courtroom submitting and obtained by The Related Press is getting used to again up prosecutors’ push for a virtually five-year sentence for Mizuhara, who beforehand pleaded responsible to financial institution and tax fraud for stealing virtually $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star.
Prosecutors are additionally looking for restitution of the almost $17 million to Ohtani, in addition to a penalty of greater than $1 million to the IRS.
Mizuhara is because of be sentenced Feb. 6 after pleading responsible to at least one depend of financial institution fraud and one depend of subscribing to a false tax return.
His lawyer, Michael G. Freedman, didn’t reply to an e mail from The Related Press requesting remark.
Within the recording, a person is heard figuring out himself as Ohtani and saying that he tried to log into on-line banking however it wasn’t accessible. He later confirms that the transaction quantity is $200,000.
When the lady from the financial institution asks him the explanation for the transaction, he says it is for a automobile mortgage.
“What’s your relationship to the payee?” she asks.
“Um, he’s my buddy,” the person responds.
The recording was obtained from the financial institution, in accordance with Assistant U.S. Lawyer Jeff Mitchell. It is unclear when it was made.
In direction of the top of the decision, the lady from the financial institution asks, “Will there be any future wires to your buddy?”
“Probably,” the person says.
The recording was first obtained by The Athletic.
The authorized submitting says Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s account starting round November 2021 and adjusted its safety protocols so he might impersonate him to authorize wire transfers. By 2024, Mizuhara allegedly had used that cash to purchase about $325,000 price of baseball playing cards at on-line resellers eBay and Whatnot.
Mizuhara pleaded responsible in June to spending hundreds of thousands from Ohtani’s Arizona checking account to cowl his rising playing bets and money owed with an unlawful bookmaker, in addition to medical payments and the $325,000 price of baseball playing cards.
Mizuhara was there for lots of the Japanese sensation’s profession highlights: He was Ohtani’s catcher throughout the Residence Run Derby on the 2021 All-Star Sport and was additionally current for his two American League MVP wins and record-shattering $700 million, 10-year cope with the Dodgers. Off the sphere, he grew to become Ohtani’s buddy and confidant.
Mizuhara famously resigned from the Los Angeles Angels throughout the 2021 MLB lockout so he might maintain chatting with Ohtani — he was rehired after a deal was struck — and their wives reportedly socialized.
However he gambled all of it away, betting tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} that weren’t his to wager on worldwide soccer, the NBA, the NFL and school soccer — although prosecutors mentioned he by no means guess on baseball.
