Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter for Dodgers superstar Shohei ohtani, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Orange County on Thursday afternoon, claiming that he stole nearly $17 million from a Japanese baseball player to cover his debts. A verdict is scheduled to be issued.
Suwon previously pleaded guilty to banking and tax fraud in June. The prosecutor sentenced him to nearly five years in prison. Mizuhara demanded a year and a half.
The verdict will end the scandal that shook the world of sports last March. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara amid investigations of him secretly claiming he had wagered Otani’s money. Suwon admitted he spent money on bets with illegal bookmakers, purchasing baseball cards worth $325,000 and undergoing costly dental work, while incurring the majority of debt.
Prosecutors hope that Mizuhara will pay Otani nearly $17 million in compensation and more than $1 million to the IRS.
According to Mizuhara’s legal agreement, Mizuhara served as a go between the player and his non-Japanese speaking agent and financial advisor as part of his job as Ohatani’s translator and de facto manager. Prosecutors in the judge’s memo said Mizuhara’s actions had harmed Otani’s reputation and goodwill.
Prosecutors wrote about Mizuhara’s activities that “there is overwhelming evidence that Otani doesn’t know about anything,” but “Otani didn’t realize that this particular account was being managed.” I kept asking questions.”
“Undoubtedly, Otani is truly a victim, he will suffer, continue to suffer and cause harm,” the memo from the verdict said.
In a letter to the judge prior to the verdict, Mizuhara said that he had put his “heart and soul” into his work and took on the role of Ohatani’s field interpreter and support member over the years. However, he appears to be dragging his former boss in, and Otani wrote that he paid him about $11,000 a year, so he survived “on his salary to his salary.”
Mizuhara is an employee of the Los Angeles Angels MLB team, and was the Dodgers that Otani played between 2018 and 23, and later Otani played since 2024. justice.
Mizuhara claimed he made many offers to write books, do TV and radio interviews and appear in commercials, but said they were “closed by Shoes and his company in Japan.” Ta.
Mizhara wrote that he longed for money, and he began gambling in sports to help himself financially.
“And before I knew it, the outcome was completely opposite,” his letter stated. “My gambling debt was growing so much that I couldn’t find a way to pay it, but I was able to spend Shohei’s money.”
Mizuhara’s lawyer Michael G. Friedman said his client’s “long-standing gambling addiction has been exacerbated by his tough work and exposure to high stakes bookmakers in the world of professional athletes.” said in the verdict memo.
As Mizuhara is not a US citizen, “it is practically certain that he will be deported to Japan after he is imprisoned,” Friedman writes.
Mizuhara confirmed that in 2018 he obtained Otani’s bank account login details. According to the contract, Mizuta began making illegal bets in Bookie, Orange County in September 2021, but has since begun to fall deep into debt.
According to the judicial contract, Mizuhara uses Otani’s password to sign a bank account, change the registered email address and phone number, and a bank employee will call Mizuhara instead of Otani, and from the account I have confirmed the wire transfer.
Mizuhara called the bank and, according to the legal agreement, impersonated Ohtani about 20 times. The interpreter made a substantial amount of wire transfers to bookmaker associates, including $500,000, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Mizuhara would use Ohatani’s money to buy baseball cards between January and March 2024 and hope to sell them later for profit.
In response to Mizuhara’s ruling memo, the prosecutor told the judge there was no evidence of gambling addiction. [Mizuhara’s] A selfish and fundamental statement to the psychologist he hired for the purposes of the sentence. ”
Prosecutors said the government saw more than 30 US casinos and found evidence that Mizuhara spent $200 on Mirage casinos over the 2008 weekend.
He began betting online on the Draft Kings in 2023, prosecutors said after already stealing millions of dollars from Otani.
They also pushed back the claims of “paying salary” living, pointing to the $250,000 salary he earned in 2023 and the $85,000 he earned in 2022. . He was paying rent using Otani’s debit card, so Otani gave him a Porsche to drive, they said.
According to prosecutors, Mizu family’s checking account in March 2023 had a balance of $30,236 and $195,113 in March 2024.
“Here, the defendant will certainly feel embarrassed by the international attention received from his fraud scheme and the web of lies, but instead of showing a true regretful defendant, he will steal millions of dollars from Mr. Ohatani. It appears they are trying to justify this,” the prosecutor wrote. “Instead of using this opportunity to apologise and show genuine regret, he made it public and used it to complain about his work and Mr. Otani.”
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