Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani, is pleading guilty multiple charges relating to the allegations he stole money from Ohtani to fund his gambling habit. Meghann Cuniff of The Washington Post relays on X (link one and link two) that Mizuhara is pleading guilty to bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return. Further details are also provided by the Associated Press and Paula Lavigne of ESPN while Cuniff links to the full 33-page plea agreement.
The AP relays that the bank fraud charge carries a maximum of 30 years in federal prison and the false tax return charge carries a sentence of up to three years in federal prison. Cuniff reports that Mizuhara will likely be facing 87 to 108 months in federal prison as part of the plea, though “acceptance of responsibility“could drop that to the range of 78 to 97 months. She adds the prosecutors could “recommend a departure from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that puts Mizuhara’s prison time below the 87-108 month range,” with the sentence ultimately to be determined by the judge. Mizuhara will be arraigned on May 14, per the AP. The plea agreement states that Mizuhara will almost certainly be deported to Japan, per Fabian Ardaya and Sam Blum of The Athletic.
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement, per the AP. “He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit.”
Last month, Mizuhara was charged with bank fraud relating to allegations that he transferred more than $16MM from Ohtani’s bank account to an illegal sports book. Cuniff also relayed the full 37-page complaint against Mizuhara at that time.
That document laid out a series of events wherein Mizuhara helped Ohtani set up a bank account when the player first came over from Japan in 2018, to deposit his pay from the Angels. Mizuhara began betting on sports with an illegal bookmaker in 2021, as betting on sports is not legal in California. Over the next few years, Mizuhara wired more than $16MM from Ohtani’s bank account to pay his debts.
Per the allegations of those charges, Mizuhara called Ohtani’s bank and pretended to be the player in order to gain access. As relayed by Lavigne, today’s plea agreement says Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani during phone calls to the bank “at least 24 times.” Ohtani’s agent repeatedly tried to view the account but Mizuhara told him it was “private” and that Ohtani didn’t want them to access it. Ohtani, meanwhile, believed that his accountants and financial advisors were monitoring the accounts. Since Mizuhara handled all translation between Ohtani and his team, each side remained unaware of what was going on.
The complaint against Mizuhara also contained various text messages between him and the bookmakers, as well as between him and Ohtani. The investigators found no evidence that Ohtani knew about Mizuhara’s gambling habits and Ohtani is considered to be a victim in the case. Nor did they find any evidence that Mizuhara bet on baseball. When the story of Mizuhara’s gambling broke in March, he told reporters that the debts were his but that Ohtani agreed to wire the money as his friend. He later retracted that story and said Ohtani knew nothing about either the gambling or the transfers. Ohtani later addressed the media and accused Mizuhara of stealing from him and lying about, saying he knew nothing of what was going on until after the accusations surfaced in the media. Ohtani has been cooperating with the investigation. The complaint against Mizuhara contains a text message where he admits to one of the bookmakers that he stole from Ohtani. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers last month with Will Ireton taking over as Ohtani’s interpreter since then.
MLB’s Department of Investigations had opened an investigation into the matter in March but released the following statement when Mizuhara was charged in April: “We are aware of the charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against Mr. Mizuhara for bank fraud after a thorough federal investigation. According to that investigation, Shohei Ohtani is considered a victim of fraud and there is no evidence that he authorized betting with an illegal bookmaker. Further, the investigation did not find any betting on baseball by Mr. Mizuhara. Given the information disclosed today, and other information we have already collected, we will wait until resolution of the criminal proceeding to determine whether further investigation is warranted.”
7+ years for stealing from a gazillionaire seems a little harsh to me.
Only 7 years for stealing $17 million? That seems HARSH? It’s light if anything, he’s pretty lucky
It’s not like he gets to keep the money, or that Ohtani would have missed it. Better off making him do community service for 7 years than locking him up.
No he won’t get the 17 million. He’ll get a nice 50+ million dollar check from Ohtani when he is out.
Would be curious if you think the same if it was your money stolen. It’s not like that person gets to keep the money. LOL. Exactly.
birds – What I would like to know, how is it possible that a bank would agree to process over 24 transfers with nothing more than a phone call authorization??? At the very least, most banks utilize voice verification. And not one time the bank called Ohtani’s personal phone number to confirm it was him who called?
Sorry but this makes zero sense. Either it was Ohtani on the phone and his voice verification checked out, or that is the dumbest bank on the planet.
He’s out in 3 1/2.
The plea agreement should include full disclosure Fever and should it turn out he didn’t provide or worse lied, the plea bargain can be removed with the maximum penalty allowed implemented. Such doesn’t guarantee anything but usually results in the truth being revealed. On a side note, I have a jury selected and may spend the next two weeks monitoring a civil trial in lower Manhattan. Should be interesting because medical experts expected to testify are being sued under the RICO statute for fraud. Even doctors aren’t exempt from lying under oath…
Do you really even need to call a bank to transfer money? I haven’t talked to bank employee to make a transaction in years.
To move it internally you do a lot of times
I have never once had my voice verified by a bank. How would they even do that? They ask security questions, the answers to which Mizuhara knew. I don’t know where you get the peculiar idea that the bank employees you talk to on the phone are security experts. Many of them were flipping burgers the month before. Anyway, all of this was in the indictment. Some of us actually read it, which is why it makes plenty of sense to us. If you didn’t I guess it might not.
Mets – Most banks use digital tokens to access bank accounts online and process transfers. The fact Mizuhara made phone calls likely indicates he didn’t have online access through a token.
The bank probably had Ippei’s number on the account as the “personal phone number” since Ippei helped Ohtani set up the account. But go believe conspiracies if it makes you happy.
@fever
i bank with 2 of the 5 largest banks in the country and i can tell you i have never used a token once to get into my account online or through my phone.
If i “forgot” my password they would ask me would i like a pin sent to me or ask my security questions. You know the ones you use to setup the account. Since the interpreter setup the account he obviously knew these and even if ohtani changed it they had been like brothers for what 17 years and had his full trust so i would venture he knew the answers.
Security tip, when they give you security questions to answer never put the real things. Like if you were born in chicago you put taiwan. Makes it harder for someone to steal those passwords and adds another level of security. you just have to remember what you put down.
phone verification is a joke. I have done it with my own accounts at a bank i used to use before they got bought out. you just *cough cough* i got a cold and its not recognizing my voice correctly. Can you verify me another way … and back to the security questions and verifying your social / address which he obviously knew.
Are you saying we don’t have a bunch of banking experts here?
“Better off making him do community service”…You do realize there’s a deterrent factor in punishing people for crimes, right?…After all, you don’t need people thinking that they can steal from their employers and the only penalty is picking up trash or working at a food bank on the weekends.
It did. All details can be read online. Mizuhara registered his email and phone number
Why’d ohtani open a bank acccount in the USA instead of having his funds sent to his already existing banks in Japan?
We seem to have people who can’t let go of their belief that Ohtani was involved even through three separate departments in the government were part of the investigation, as well as the banks. The reason some still have questions is because they haven’t read all the documents. We also have multiple major media outlets with forensic accounting types on staff who would love to find a connection to Ohtani. None have. Ohtani was the victim.
If only Ippei could run for president he wouldn’t have to worry about jail.
If he registered as a corporation they’d let him murder people for a light fine.
I work at a credit union. I can tell you that the wire process is made easier because that’s the way our members like it. If it’s too strict you get a lot of complaints. Basically you call in, a form is sent to you to sign verifying that you where you want the money to be sent to. Of course you have to follow the security verifications. Once all those things are done you send the wire, contact is made with the person sending a wire verifying that this is in fact what they want to do. The process is made to be in the consumer’s favor because that’s what they want. Not sure if that helps anybody but that’s just my two cents.
Or his friend who was the interpreter had authorization to manage the $ that was in that account.
I to was a suspicious at first. But this is the government now, not MLB or someone affiliated with them. I’m sorry but I just can’t see any government agency being complicit here to cover criminal illegal gambling of a foreign citizen or anyone for that matter.
@Dewey RICO is a criminal charge. Nobody is sued civilly for RICO. And had they been charged criminally with RICO it would require multiple predicates showing an ongoing criminal enterprise. Furthermore someone lying under oath is what is called “perjury”. Not something they are sued for in a civil trial under a criminal statue…
If he had a crackhead son he could get 10 percent of the take from CEFC for influence peddling too. Crackheads uncle got another 10 percent. Crackhead got 20 percent. Drugs and ho’s costs are rising all the time so he needed the 20.
Oh please, just knock it off. This is as open and shut a case as there’s ever been. So stop with the hate driven conspiracies already.
Lol, no they don’t. They ask security questions.
Maybe because he now lives in the USA you dope. As if he owes you an explanation anyway.
I’ll go 26 months, tops.
Maybe try reading the article.
Mizuhara changed the contact phone number on the account to receive and confirm the six-digit access code. Pretty sure voice verification isn’t required for most banks and even if it was, it probably wouldn’t do much if Mizuhara was present when opening said account.
Blue – It’s 2024, not 1974.
Voice Recognition and Facial Recognition have been around for decades. When you walk into a casino, if you’ve been there before they will know. Same thing with airports, stadiums etc …. if you are banned from those places, facial recognition will notify them.
At least two of my banks, Chase & TD, both utilize voice recognition to verify a person’s identity.
Security questions are so passé.
My business accounts are with Chase and I routinely wire money to my suppliers, which can sometimes be in the 6 figures. They have never utilized voice recognition. They have always called and asked for a pin number or security questions. Also, I can now wire up to $500k right from my laptop no questions asked. Voice recognition may be fairly common these days, but not for wire transfers.
Brick – If Ohtani truly did that, it means he had the intention of his interpreter fraudulently impersonating him. Is that what you really think? Is that your final answer?
I haven’t heard anywhere that his interpreter was also his POA.
But go ahead and believe the powers that be would want to bring down an international player in his prime who is the face of baseball and generates hundreds of millions – if not billions – in revenue and corresponding tax dollars.
roll – Every major bank I deal with in a business capacity requires a token, now it’s what they call a soft token. I find it very hard to believe any of the 5 largest US banks don’t utilize tokens, can you name the two?
I know JPM/Chase and BOA utilize them.
Believe – Plenty of reasons.
1) Easy access to funds.
2) No foreign transaction fees
3) Can set up recurring auto-payments
4) Direct deposit
Tiger – If the interpreter was a joint account owner, or if he was POA, then yes. I’m not aware that he was either.
As for the gov, proving Ohtani had knowledge of the situation is not easy and not something that would benefit the gov if proven.
Remember, this didn’t start out as investigation because Ohtani reported theft. It started out as part of an investigation into an illegal gambling ring. They apparently have a confession from the interpreter, so no point in investigating further.
Typically all investigations end when there’s a confession.
FPG, no matter what you say, banks are not using voice or facial recognition. Facial recognition is obviously difficult to do over the phone or online (read: impossible), and this where the vast majority of banking is conducted today. Voice recognition obviously only works if they have a verified print of your voice. And where are they going to get that?
Security questions might be passe, but that is what they use. I mean, have you not done any banking?
FPG, again you seem to be demanding that someone reiterate all the details in the indictment, which you could easily read yourself. Mizuhara left a huge digital paper trail that pointed a big neon arrow to him as the culprit. The case against him was airtight. This is why he plead out so quickly.
Blue – I didn’t say banks use facial recognition, although it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s used in branches. I’m just saying technology has come a long way from what you remember.
Here’s a brief overview of how voice recognition works.
First it records the digital audio and does some initial mathematical processing to try to remove background sounds and focus only on the actual speech.
Next it splits the sound into little chunks of something like 1/20 of a second or less, and for each chunk it tries to figure out what type of sound it is. At this point it doesn’t know for sure, it’s just getting a rough overview. It might say the first sound is an unvoiced consonant, but could be a t, k, or p – and the second sound is a vowel, could be “ah” or “oh”.
Next it runs an algorithm that tries to figure out what was actually spoken by trying lots and lots of possibilities and figuring out which is the most likely. It’s a little bit like playing Sudoku – there are some things you know and some things you don’t know, and you have to just start trying things to see if it works, and if it doesn’t, you backtrack and try something else.
Every step of this algorithm is based on lots and lots of training. Researchers record lots of people speaking, then they transcribe the speech by hand and align the transcription with the recording so that computers know exactly where each word is spoken in the recording (each phoneme, really). Computers run lots of statistics over these thousands of hours of recorded and labeled speech in order to figure out what the most likely word is given a certain recording.
Also, the best speech algorithms don’t just listen for one word at a time, they try to make the whole sentence make sense. They do this statistically too – they have millions of phrases from real sentences and they know which words are more likely to follow other words.
Voice-Activated Banking is a service that uses your unique voice to verify who you are. Your voice print (a lot like your fingerprint) is an added layer of protection to safeguard you and your accounts from fraud. A major benefit of Voice-Activated Banking is its ability to prevent fraud, since it can immediately foil the attempts of would-be impersonators. Once you’re enrolled, no one else can call the bank trying to impersonate you—we’ve got your voice on file and the call must come from the phone registered to you. With Voice-Activated Banking, you can quickly and securely check balances on your checking and savings accounts, transfer money.
Is Voice-Activated Banking secure?
Yes! Gone are the days of sharing personal information like passcodes or account numbers out loud. When you call, just say “my voice is my password” and the system authenticates you using not only your unique voice, but also your phone number and the specific phone you’re calling from. In this way, the system can thwart fraudsters who attempt to use a spoofed phone number or a recording, as it can recognize and deny access to recordings.
The fact that you can supposedly explain how speech recognition works is irrelevant. The point is banks typically don’t use it, so your twisted baseless conspiracy that it must have been Ohtani approving the transfers has no merit.
Blue – I’m not demanding anything. This is not a big issue to me, I didn’t comment much under earlier articles,
I want Ohtani to keep playing because he’s an amazing player, and if he got away with something ….. so what? Certainly doesn’t impact my team and I couldn’t care less about his former interpreter.
I’m just using logic here, and so much of this story is illogical.
Let me ask you one thing: If Ohtani acknowledged giving Mizuhara full autonomy to handle his banking for him (I’m guessing he did acknowledge) and if Ohtani acknowledged lying about his contact information by providing Mizuhara’s info to the bank, and if Ohtani acknowledged truly never looking at any of his banking activity or questioned the balances, then WHY THE HELL DIDN’T MIZUHARA SAY HE WAS INSTRUCTED BY OHTANI TO SEND THE PAYMENTS TO THE BOOKIE????
I think ANYONE in Mizuhara’s shoes who is facing that much prison time would simply say Ohtani verbally instructed him to make those payments.
And you know what? If Ohtani denies it, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on because he already acknowledged willingly giving Mizuhara free reign to make transfers and withdrawals without Ohtani even knowing about it. So proving Mizuhara “stole” the money instead of Ohtani ordering him to make the transfers is impossible.
Corrado – This is really easy to resolve, which bank did Ohtani use?
Because if you do a quick and easy search, you’ll find that nearly EVERY major bank uses it.
Just because you probably write paper checks for all your purchases and bill payments, doesn’t mean everyone else is still stuck in the 1970’s.
Stop trafficking conspiracy theories. It’s annoying.
These people watch too many movies…
Based
Yeah, no they don’t. I do the vast majority of my wire transfers right from my laptop.
And the FBI has already resolved this, so we don’t need your two cents.
FPG, you aren’t using logic, because you haven’t made yourself familiar with the facts. Once again you keep insisting that I explain the already explained. Read the indictment. All of your questions are answered there.
None of this has anything to do with what I remember. Billions are lost to financial fraud every year for a reason. You don’t hear about most of it because most of the people who are defrauded aren’t celebrities. Other than that, and the magnitude of the crime, no other special circumstance are involved.
Blue – Do you even know what my point is? I don’t think you do.
The endictment is quite long, present one part that disputes something I have posted here.
Because context is everything, as are sources and motivation.
I don’t see where you know what your point is, so how is anyone else expected to know? The indictment contradicts everything you have posted here, but I am now completely certain that you will never, ever get that. End of discussion.
Blue – You remind me of all those people in Cali who do the smash and grab, then run away.
You refuse to listen or discuss, all you do is blurt out your opinion and then run and hide.
But at least it stops you from continuing to try and shout down everyone else, so that’s one good thing! LOL!!
If you have authorization to use the account then someone can go ahead and send wires. From what I read in the affidavit, his interpreter called in pretending to be otani. I am also interested to see what the banks role is in this, if everybody follow the security protocol there wouldn’t be any liability for them.
Seems rather light to me.
You’re confusing it with when the wealthy steal from people like Mizuhara, where sentencing is indeed much lighter. Just make sure your legal expenses will be covered before you start offering seniors reverse mortgages.
Dude had the sweetest gig in the world and blew it.
Has Sho-time been completely exonerated?
He was never accused of anything. He was the victim.
lol. “Victim”
Birds, do you have evidence to the contrary? I’ll wait here.
Yeah. The dude is pleading guilty. lol
Whats your evidence that Ohtanis is a “victim”?
Keep waiting though.
You’re trolling wrong.
The accused is pleading guilty to stealing from Ohtani, therefore Ohtani is the victim because he got things stolen from him.
He had 16 million stolen from him. Don’t know what you waiting for?
Yeah. That’s my point. He is pleading guilty without a fight. The majority would plead “not guilty” or “ no contest” to fight for a lesser sentence.
Just every piece of evidence. Other than that, nothing.
What a world we live in. 🙁
Except in the article it clearly states if he takes pleads guilty he would get a lesser sentence. The evidence, which is out there, is stacked against him. For Ippei to plead not guilty just to prove to you that Ohtani is innocent (yes that’s how crazy you sound) would cost him more of his life.
He plead guilty go the crime of taking advantage of Ohtani. How is Ohtani not the victim here?
He was no money to afford representation. A plea is his best bet.
Put down the paint chips dude.
birds – Actually the majority would plead “Not Guilty” and insist they were told by Ohtani to make those payments.
And here’s another thing that I brought up at the very beginning, which none of the sheep here can provide a reasonable response to because it’s not possible:
If the interpreter was placing illegal sports bets and acting 100% on his own with Ohtani knowing nothing about it, why the hell didn’t he bet on the one sport that he would have lots of inside knowledge on …. baseball.
WHY were there no bets on baseball????????
Sure sounds like somebody knew that betting on baseball would be a serious offense, and they thought it was okay to bet on any other sport except baseball.
…what? You don’t plead not guilty to fight for a lesser sentence. You only plead not guilty if you think you can beat the charge. Anything else, you’re better off taking the plea deal.
“No contest” is how you take the sentence without saying you did it. It’s also not how you try to get a lesser sentence. You’re either taking the plea deal (in which case you’re not fighting at all) or you’re taking your chances with the judge, and he’s going to look more benevolently upon you if you take responsibility than if you don’t.
You want so badly for this to reflect on Ohtani that you’re not even close to reality.
Bizarre.
At least your name fits.
Where do people come up with these comments?
Reality is waiting for you if you ever feel like returning to it
Assuming it would still be recognizable. So many people live in a fantasy world of conspiracy theories they wouldn’t recognize reality if it smacked them in the face. I mean, like it is doing right now.
These are the same people distrusting data from 25o,ooo weather stations distributed systematically across the planet, claiming that 18,000 independent climatologists are somehow operating collectively to fool the masses into believing there has been a 2 deg C increase in temperature over the past 20 years.
Stop being a racist hater.
Corrado – Stop with the race-baiting please.
This is the United States of America.
With the exception of Native Americans, EVERYONE in this country has roots from other countries.
It’s especially dumb to bring up race when both Mizuhara and Ohtani are of Japanese descent.
Yes but the interpreter is not a star, Ohtani is, and you wanna take him down despite overwhelming evidence that proves he was the victim. Gotta be an underlying motive for such blind stupidity.
Corrado – Well first of all, if what you said was true then that’s not racism. Being a star is not a race.
And secondly, most people are unbiased and don’t hate just because of social status. Mookie is one of the biggest stars in baseball and he is universally loved.
Just because many people see things differently, it doesn’t mean it’s motivated by hatred. It just means they aren’t suckups who worship the rich and famous.
I’ve already stated I don’t care what the outcome is, and from the beginning I knew everything would be done to protect the biggest revenue-generating player in baseball history. Clearly I wasn’t wrong.
That’s a lot of time for being the fall guy for Ohtani.
…which would suggest that he’s not a fall guy, since no reasonable person would agree to that much jail time in exchange for money
no reasonable person would agree to that much jail time in exchange for money
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He was guilty either way. He either stole the money from Ohtani, or he wired it to the bookie on behalf of Ohtani. Either way, he was open to jail time.
But to your point, I’d be curious how much time he serves.
JoeB, are you suggesting there’s still even a remote chance Ohtani is guilty of something related to this situation?
bed – Maybe you have the courage to answer this question, since others here don’t.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the most recent story from the two best friends is that Ohtani willingly gave Mizuhara free reign with his bank account. Gave him total access, gave the bank Mizuhara’s contact information as if it was his own, allowed Mizuhara to make dozens of payments/withdrawals, and didn’t bother to notice or question any of it.
So with Ohtani stating he gave total control of his bank account to Mizuhara, why didn’t Mizuhara say that Ohtani told him to make those transfers to the bookie?
After all, no reasonable person would refuse to fight jail time if all they have to do is say they were verbally told to make the transfers. And Ohtani wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.
There was a famous trial in 1985… a group of fans took the fall and the hardest hit for a few players was 10% of their salary.
Mike – Yes obviously the famous and wealthy can afford the finest team of lawyers. And Ohtani’s team of lawyers told him exactly what to say.
The perp confessed and yet we hear these theories. A truly sad world we live in today. 🙁
Blue Skies
Based on a preponderance of the released evidence, I tend to believe Ohtani that he was stupid rather than a criminal.
That being said, I do not think it is so fair to be dismissive of those who are skeptical. In our society, when the truly wealthy or powerful commit crimes, it is not unusual to compensate a less affluent or powerful person to take the fall. I think there is more to this story than we have heard, but I tend to believe that Ohtani was not himself gambling.
I don’t see him as being stupid, I see him as trusting, Naive, if you like — none of which is a crime. Sadly a lot of people today really seem to get a kick out of blaming victims, as if only the people who get bilked are the ones who somehow deserve it because they weren’t “smart” enough to see the conman coming. Sad. In this case, there’s absolutely zero evidence that anything happened other than what we’ve heard. To believe otherwise is just plain cynical.
Manny – Any bank that approves millions in bank transfers based on phone calls from someone impersonating an account owner has to be the dumbest bank on the planet.
Either the reporting is leaving out massive information, or something is very fishy here. And how did the interpreter confirm Ohtani’s identity over the phone? He couldn’t have spoken in English because Ohtani doesn’t know English, correct? So did he speak in Japanese to a bank worker who also speaks Japanese? Way too many questions here.
I dread the thought that such a conman might become a world leader.
Blue skies, I totally agree with you. And given how many NFL and NBA players have been swindled and found themselves broke (Bernie Kosar’s own father swindled him), I think it’s a bit rich for the conspiracy theorists here to say in essence “oh he’s not an American, he’s too smart to get swindled so obviously it’s a coverup.”
Blue Skies
If you don’t check your own account balances every now and then, I call that stupid. Ohtani can be intelligent and be “stupid” in neglecting to periodically review his accounts.
Perhaps you should read more. Ohtani was under the impression that his accountants were monitoring his accounts. Multi-millionaires don’t live like the rest of us where they have to monitor every dime that goes in and out their accounts because they live paycheck to paycheck.
If you don’t check your balance you have too much money. And ballplayers are honestly paid too much money.
Not to say he deserves this but imagine that much missing and not even noticing, seems odd
Corridor
“My Maserati does 184, I have accountants that pay for it all.”
But that is the point.
If Ohtani had no reason to suspect Ippee-ki-yay, he still should have periodically looked at his balances to make sure that the accountants or banks were not screwing him.
This took place over a long period of time. Understand if Shohei only looked at his balances quarterly or something.
Manny – Not only that, Ohtani has a large team of financial advisors and accountants. They are the ones who recommended the deferral option. Anybody who deals with millions of dollars ALWAYS has more than one person handling the money. There is ALWAYS checks and balances, secondary approvals required on disbursements, stuff like that. And it’s not just to prevent theft, it’s to prevent honest mistakes from being made …. wrong amounts being sent, wrong recipient account numbers being used.
To suggest Ohtani let just one person have total access to all his banking is basically calling him an idiot ….. those who are supposedly “defending” him are actually INSULTING him.
Corrado – Why was Ohtani under that impression?
Yes, accountants NEED bank records to complete tax forms and other financial duties. At some point the accountants MUST have requested the bank records. So why didn’t they receive them?
Brick – Kosar is a really, really crappy example to bring up.
Bernie has gone on record as saying he knew right away his Dad was swindling him …. but he allowed him to continue, because he thought it would help with their relationship.
Do better next time.
On top of that even though Ohtani’s advisors wanted to check the other account it seems rather curious they never ever added a translator for them and instead trusted Shohei’s.
I have never attended a meeting where just one translator is used, when in business nobody trusts the other side’s translator to do all the work. It is not a tv interview, we are talking about business and lawyers blindly trusting.
Mike – I just re-read the 37-page complaint for the third time.
Page 24 Sect H states Ohtani denied giving access to Mizuhara’s bank account.
So how the hell did Mizuhara have access? It is simply not possible without Ohtani giving him the bank information, password, security answers etc at some point.
According to the document the phone number, IP and email address were all changed to Mizuhara’s. So whomever was receiving the statements and other messages via emails (presumably Ohtani himself) didn’t question why they were no longer receiving them???
Sorry about anybody who doesn’t see the fishiness here has to be either very ignorant or a total Ohtani suckup.
Yeah because no one has ever confessed to something they didn’t do.
Therefore, Ohtani is guilty? What kind of argument is that?
Bizarre.
My favorite was Ohtani’s marriage was a sham to cover up his intimate relationship with Ippei and their gambling.
@blueskies_la my theory is they found out California could prosecute ohtani so he said it was stolen. He’s a billionaire if you add up his shoe deal and mlb alone, and im sure he has all kinds of Japanese deals. What’s 17 million for a friend. They could get him on a accomplice to illegal gambling charge. As far as people saying ban him the bets weren’t on baseball they screwed up on the offshore part. One player was caught and fined so even if he was doing it he can’t be banned, Pete rose was betting on games he was managing that’s a completely different deal.
Your theory is bizarre and supported by none of the facts, just how you feel.
Rex – Rose was also 45 years old and just a part-time player when he was banned, nowhere near as big a deal as one of the greatest players ever in the middle of his prime.
He’ll be out just in time for the deferred money to start rolling in.
Brilliant plan ha ha.
Yeah I mean obviously!
To the contrary, dummy, his plea deal requires he pay Ohtani back. Got any more bright ideas?
“That’s a lot of time for being the fall guy for Ohtani.”
Do you have any other evidence to share, agent 007?
No, she doesn’t. She’s one of the new “guilty until proven innocent” girls’.
You should articulate your point with being misogynistic.
You should articulate your point with being misogynistic.
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The more one resorts to insults, the less likely I am to believe their argument.
The idea is that they covered their tracks.
The idea is that OP has no idea and is just making assumptions in the absence of facts.
That’s some serious time for taking the bullet. Hopefully Sho takes care of him for keeping his status clean(for now).
Salty much?
Just completely cynical. Bad is good and good is bad to a tragically large number of people today. Explains a lot more than this when you think about it.
BlueSkies,
I’m using the Mute button liberally in this comment section.
@ArrestArte if he was. Do you think ohtani would be pressing charges?
Federal prison you have to do 85% of your time.
87 months * 85% = 5.8 years
5.8 years for theft … that sucks. I don’t believe in prison, having been in state prison myself. It is worse than hell… something still does not sit right with me with taking away 6 years of someone’s life when nobody was actually hurt, just some money lost.
The true punishment should be wage garnishment for the rest of his life. That would be true justice. How is he supposed to make any money to pay it back when he’s sitting in prison for the next 6 years and basically unemployable after that?
“Just some money lost” $17 mil is just some money lost?? Ummm he’s lucky he’s not locked up for much longer
There has to be real consequences for stealing money to deter people from doing it. Some may think it’s worth doing 5 years plus for stealing millions.
What do you suggest we do w violent criminals? Death penalty for all?
Part of plea agreement states that will be required to pay back restitution to Ohtani and $1MM owed to the IRS.
It’s no wonder you were in prison. And it’s clear you didn’t learn your lesson.
Ohtani had the over on the jail sentence…
He even lost that one ha ha.
Sentence is lower than I thought it might be. Wire fraud, bank fraud, large amounts
I work in mortgage and if I did the same thing to a bank vs. an individual I think I’d get more prison time.
He took a plea deal that’s why
Pleading out will do that, especially if you have evidence to supply about another crime. They are still after the bookmaker.
Obviously, a key question is whether the interpreter can be an asset for prosecution of bigger fish.
This is something we already know, in generalities. The entire reason Mizuhura’s gambling and theft came to light was because of the investigation into the bookmaker.
Blue – Thank you for pointing that out like I did when this story first broke.
So all this time, and all those transfers, and yet none of the “theft” would have been “discovered” if not for the investigation into the gambling ring.
If only there was a way the “theft” could have been discovered earlier, eh?
I was going to respond, then I noticed your use of quotes around words to suggest they really didn’t happen. So right off you are absurdly spinning the question. Not interested.
Blue – I’d rather you respond to my other question.
You say Ohtani gave his interpreter full control of his banking, including setting up the bank account with the interpreter’s personal information such as phone number etc.
And you say Ohtani never noticed or questioned all the transfers.
Then why didn’t the interpreter defend himself by claiming he was verbally instructed to make those payments?
There’s literally no reason for him to remain loyal to Ohtani, unless there’s some kind of “reward” waiting for him when he gets out of prison.
Try to provide a logical response, if you can.
It’s impossible to provide a logical response to an illogical question.
Blue – That’s all it takes to get you to stop trying to shout down others, quotes? Good to know!
Blue – Have you ALWAYS run and hid like that?
You’d make a great politician, if you weren’t already.
“Vote for me, I’m the best!”
“Why should the people vote for you? What do you have to justify your opiinion?”
“I’m always right and you’re always wrong, I don’t need to say anything more!”
You are now going for totally moronic. A strange ambition.
🙁
Ippei-ki-yay MFs
Speaking of McLain, when will Matt be off the IL?
Die Hard is a Christmas movie, change my mind!
Gwynning,
I hate the “change my mind” meme, but I agree Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
You’re the fall guy, Winch. You’re the guy they come to when no one else will stand up and take their medicine. And they come to you because you never make them stand up and take it.
“they are trying to make me an escape goat”
They said they could recommend departure from the united states. Is that a way to avoid everything.
I believe once he’s served whatever time the Feds approve of, then he’ll be deported.
How is he going to pay 17 million to ohtani and 1 million to the feds. Lol. He’s not going to have any motivation to get a good paying job if it’s coming out of his check
There’s virtually no conceivable way for reconciliation of funds. Even if there is an imposed restitution plan, there’s absolutely no way to enforce it post-deportation. In other words, he ain’t gunna pay s*** back unless he comes to some sort of gentleman’s agreement with Shohei. I theorize that Shohei will want this incident finalized ASAP instead of dragging Ippei out for the rest of his life.
Ohtani Rose
ohtani better get him into a cushy place… big bullet for him
With good behavior & some ohtani autographs to the state DA he’ll be out in 2 yrs & shohei will make sure he’s set for life with a new lambo & house in fiji as thanks for taking the fall
And when none of that happens I’m sure you’ll be back here admitting how wrong you were.
yea i cant guarantee it’ll be a lambo & fiji
maybe a ferrari & ibiza instead
Bizarre.
c’mon, nobody will ever admit that ohtani is a degenerate gambler & the friend is taking the fall for him. but there is no question the friend will be set for life by sho the minute he walks out of jail. ohtani is innocent the same way OJ was
Totally bizarre.
after all the favors to lighten the sentence, the friend will likely spend the entire time in a min security jail. my friends dad was incarcerated for a similar crime. he said it was like summer camp for adults. played cards & chess & basketball, otherwise took really long naps. i’d do it if my friend agreed to set me up nice afterward . its a no brainer plus its shohei, he needed someone to take the fall, might as well be his best friend lol. anyone with half a brain or any sort of common sense knew from the beginning that this was all a hollywood production to mask the truth.
So we have OJ to thank for the rampant distrust these days in reality?
Even more bizarre. This isn’t looking any better for you.
Brew – There is a long and sordid history of the American public being lied to that starts far before OJ.
Why don’t you start in the 1960’s by Googling “Agent Orange”.
This is the classic logical fallacy upon which all conspiracy theories are constructed.
Blue – Yes always trust the government and people in authority, right?
But you’re not a Vietnam vet or lived in Nam back then so you don’t give a crap, right?
How dare the gov acknowledge they lied! How dare they provide benefits to Americans exposed to Agent Orange!
cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/agent-…
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization. One of its major goals is to identify causes of cancer.
IARC has classified one of the chemicals in Agent Orange (2,3,7,8-TCDD, also sometimes referred to as “dioxin”) as “known to be carcinogenic to humans.”
US National Toxicology Program (NTP)
The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) is an interagency program that includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The NTP has classified one chemical in Agent Orange (2,3,7,8-TCDD, also sometimes referred to as “dioxin”) as “known to be a human carcinogen.”
To learn more about how these organizations study and classify cancer causes, see Determining if Something Is a Carcinogen and Known and Probable Human Carcinogens.
US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)
The US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has linked exposure to Agent Orange (and some other herbicides) to certain cancers and cancer precursors in its most recent report, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 11 (2018):
Sufficient evidence of an association
Soft tissue sarcoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)
Hodgkin lymphoma
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), including hairy cell leukemia and other chronic B-cell leukemias
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a precursor of multiple myeloma
Limited/suggestive evidence of an association
Cancers of the lung, bronchus, and trachea (windpipe)
Cancer of the larynx (voice box)
Prostate cancer
Multiple myeloma
Bladder cancer
These categories provide a framework for US government policy decisions regarding compensation for US Vietnam veterans
End of discussion.
Blue – Finally something I can give you a thumbs up for! LOL!
Cover up is complete good job MLB
This is why Manfred gets the big money.
What a hoot. Give Pete Rose his baseball player Hall of Fame dues ! This case stinks to high heaven, and would a white guy ever be treated like this ?
So in addition to being a moron you’re a racist.
So you support pedo in the HoF?
No, I am not talking about PED, I am taking about Pete and his 15 year old GF
This is not a skin color bias issue. it’s a money bias issue. Pretty sure a Mike Trout would be treated the same.
Let’s face it. Ohtani is a cash cow to MLB. Circle the wagons. Protect him at all costs. And this message has been made clear to media. Lack of investigative journalism makes this clear. Another player caught up in this other than an Ohtani or a Trout persona; … knives out by media with MLB’s blessing.
And I was addressing the posters “Give Pete Rose his baseball player Hall of Fame dues” comment. I never mentioned skin color….you did. I did not even mention Ohtani and money ….you did.
My comment was strictly about Rose who, yes should be and is, rightfully banned from the hall for violation of Rule 21(d) as he felt he was bigger than the game but also had an “affair” with a 15 year old girl when he was married and in his 30’s. His defense? “I thought she was 16” which was the legal age of consent in OH at the time. That is what I addressed.
In regards to Ohtani etc. Do you really believe that MLB is so powerful that they swayed the FBI’s investigation? It boggles my mind that so many seem to think this way and all I can assume is you are all reading just the headlines and not the publicly released official reports.
Have a nice day.
@Cat Mando; In regards to skin color, I was responding to MPrck, not you.
Oh, maybe an MLB or an NFL or the like could sway an FBI investigation? Not sure. But that’s not my point. My point is how a powerful org like an MLB (and the PA) handles the findings of a legal investigation varies from player to player with heavy emphasis on that player’s monetary value to the organization.
Sorry….it seemed to show up as a reply to me….apologies
He is going to do 18 months. As part of an ongoing ,cooperative assitance, and testimony against 2 illegal operations, be allowed to serve the remainder of his time in japan where he will do a photo session in a jail, be released on community guidelines and live like a king for helping Japan’s national hero save face
Now…That the dog and pony show is over, can we PLEASE ADDRESS THE BALLS!
I want some weights and measures people to get some current, in-use , MLB balls, and tell me how much more rubber was added and how much binding removed, and the weight reduction tally….Because ONLY a lighter ball can account for the DRASTIC reversal of skill LEAGUE WIDE…across some 13 different battting stances, covering BOTH sides of the plate…While allowing a BALL I SAW TODAY…Bounce over 20ft in the air, off of the field, in the Pirates game.
I thought the juiced ball BS was done in 2020
You might want to do some research on the Japanese prison system.
It’s moot…He does no time in Japan. Was my post too convulted and that part escaped?
Did the Bank ever explain how Ohtani’s little Buddy worked the Bank Wire System like a Pinball Machine?
Or why Ohtani’s accountant saw nothing?
Is the Accountant’s name Seargent Schultz?
I know nothing
I see nothing
I can go on and wire money in minutes with my bank without talking to a soul. Don’t know how hard you think it is to wire money.
“How hard you think it is”…I’m not sure why so many people think it’s hard to access any account if you know all the pin numbers and security access codes. It’s a breeze to send money from practically any account if you know all the security protocols. I’m not surprised at all that Ippei was able to electronically pose as Shohei Otani.
You have to fill out a form
State what it is for
Then they call to verify
Also the right swift #.
The fees
And so on…
Yes, it has all been explained in articles and official affidavits over and over again. There are more sources that MLBTR.
You have to believe that:
1-A bookie gave a translator a multi-million $ line of credit.
2-That Ohtani didn’t open up a single bank statement in 23 months.
Or his accountant
Or you could just read the indictment and save yourself a lot of speculation. Too hard?
1-he didn’t
2-According to what I’ve read, the account it was coming out of was a joint account. Ippei had as much access to it as Ohtani did. The fact he had access to that account (which Angels checks were also deposited into) makes this pretty evident Ohtani didn’t care what happened to that money. Makes perfect sense he wouldn’t notice money missing from an account he doesn’t care about in the first place.
No it was not a joint account. It was Ohtani’s account to which Mizuhara had compete access. Mizuhara connected it to his own phone number and an email address that he created to look very similar to Ohtani’s own email address. These details are all in the indictment.
I understood they opened it in AZ, and Mizuhara had complete access to it from the beginning. I’ll take the L. Either way, the theories out there of Ohtani’s guilt are wrapped in hopes and hatred for whatever reason.
Not sure it’s hope or hatred. it’s more of how crooked people view the MLB. because they cheat a HELL of a lot more than any team.
Fall guy going to jail for 7 years. Best friend ever.
Fastest cover up – I mean investigation – in the history of the United States where any three letter agency has been involved.
You got that right. A great “investigation” by MLB
“A great Investigation by MLB”…MLB was not leading the investigation. Homeland Security and every 3 letter Security agency in the USA was. MLB is not a police agency and has no supeona, statutory or investigative authority whatsoever.
You’re confusing people with facts. Shame on you!
Investigation and plea deal negotiated in record time. Lightning fast. Why? Deportation at end of sentence. If he’s out on bond I have two questions: Who posted the bond and when does he self and or assisted deport before he’s incarcerated? That would solve a lot of problems for Ohtani and MLB. I’m sure they both want him gone now. JV (Verlander) says the current 2024 Ohtani is the strongest batter he’s ever seen. This coming off of a second TJS. Wonder if there is something else going on besides gambling?
I love all these moronic fall guy comments. Baseball wasn’t even bet on on. Ohtani wouldn’t even been suspended from baseball. He was taking advantage of because he couldn’t speak a foreign language and worked there. He has hundreds of millions of endorsements deals and didn’t notice a small portion of it was missing. He trusted the wrong guy.
California might’ve been able to prosecute ohtani is my guess. If he was willingly giving him money to gamble illegally. That’s why the story changed, but he wasn’t betting on baseball, and the interpretor screwed up. Betting off shore is a fine in the mlb. So it kinda cancels out most conspiracy theories. Im going with he could’ve faced jail time so he said ippei stole.
Bizarre.
@Rexhudler86 Either the feds have enough evidence to charge and indict Ohtani or they don’t. What I.M. said to the media doesn’t matter. He confessed and made a guilty plea agreement with U.S. gov’t. Investigators need to corroborate I.M.’s statements and they’re not going to just take his word for it and say OK Ippei. What conspiracy theory are you trying to uncover???
@yankees was talking about the other posters theories that ohtani was part of Epstein island and bought his house and was a degenerate gambler, and ippei was the fall guy, free Pete and the other claims. Simply was saying he might’ve been in trouble with California if he was willingly giving him money to gamble illegally off shore. Ippei screwed up and has to deal with it. Story done.
Uh huh. It’s great to see how naïve some people are
So many cynical morons.
Will he serve his prison sentence before being deported, or deported instead of? If it’s instead of, 100 coverup
Serve U.S. prison time and deport. That’s usually the way it works.
I hoped Ohtani’s dog got a high five when the news broke.
Sad thing is this guy can speak english ive seen it. He even did a bit during a game on espn about his cleats speaking english with no help…
Not sure what’s sad about that. Ohtani speaks some basic English, but like most players who aren’t fluent they still use translators for interviews and in others situations where misunderstandings could be a problem.
Ohtani also uses an interpreter during interviews to not alienate his Japanese fans. Ichiro used one throughout his entire career for this reason. Everyone knew he’s capable of speaking conversational English. Some Latino players do the same.
Deported before or after jail time? Makes a huge difference.
He will be the worlds wealthiest former interpreter
Still confused why there was a need to open a bank account here in the USA instead of ohtani requesting money being sent to his banks in Japan. That part still puzzles me.
What’s so hard to believe about a dude opening one or more accounts at a local bank where he has been spending at least half of every year for the past six years and where he will live and work for the next ten?
You’re trying too hard to find a crime to pin on Ohtani.
From my understanding the bank account was set up soon as he came over to the states in 2018 (ohtani’s rookie year) upon Ippei suggesting such back when he was playing for the angels.
Ippei didn’t start stealing from the account until 2021. As to why Ohtani went along with it idk. Seems strange you’d set up a brand new bank account and not use pre existing ones. Especially people of Japanese decent who a known to not be as trusting of outsiders.
That also brings up another question. How does a compulsive gambler go 3 years of no gambling activity then suddenly boom he’s in this mess.
He went along with it bc he didn’t need his salary money. His U.S. endorsement money was being handled by CAA and in Japan by his own mother. Ohtani was also under the false impression that CAA was managing his salary money. CAA inquired about that account multiple times and I.M. always told them Ohtani wanted to keep the account private.
I.M. met the bookie at a (presumably high-stakes) poker game so he had been gambling way before then.
That answers how Ippei was able to steal from the account unnoticed but still doesn’t answer why he didn’t already use pre existing accounts or as you just brought up let CAA handle the salary money as they were already handling his endorsement deals here in the US.
“ He went along with it bc he didn’t need his salary money.” There’s exactly 0 people on this earth that opened a bank account to just dump money into it they feel like they don’t need.
For the record I’m not accusing ohtani of any wrong doings or illegal activity. But I am curious how someone so calculated and shrewd could be this oblivious and dumb about things. Guess it’s true what they say. Common sense isn’t so common.
I think you’re overestimating him being financially-savvy. I’ve read reports how he relied on his mother to distribute small monthly stipends even though he was making millions per year in the NPB. I.M. opened Ohtani’s account with him when he first arrived to the U.S. He was also given access to the account to help Ohtani make his personal purchases. SO couldn’t drive without a license so IM was also his chauffeur. The Athletics reported that in last December, SO gifted IM a $60k check for dental work. He deposited the check and kept the money and then withdrew another $60K in cash with a debit card. SO is pretty naive with his own money. IM started stealing when SO arb salary started becoming more significant. The dude was living a dream with a well-paid job and lots of perks and threw it all away.
So glad I’m not other fan having a stroke about this. Case closed….
he is taking a GAMBLE on that sentence. I’ll be here next week!
Victimless crime.
They love to gamble.
I do not believe Ohtani is guilty of anything. However 7 years for theft? There are many violent criminals that get less. Even some child predators. Something is very wrong with our justice system.
Gotta love when people choose not to read because the events have been explained in granular details in countless articles and official gov’t documents. Conspiracy theories are fun and effortless I suppose.
They are emotionally satisfying for many people for reasons that elude me. These days it seems like many aren’t even trying to understand what is happening. It’s more important to choose the right people to hate. Once you’ve done that, anything goes and reality doesn’t matter at all.
There was a television series on in the 80s with Lee Majors, Heather Thomas, and Markie Post. It was about a stunt men and bounty hunters. I can’t remember what the name of the series, though. It’s an off topic question, I think, but was on my mind when I read this for some odd reason.
California Penal League is always looking for good interpeter.
I read only comments from paid subscribers here. The rest of you can mute me like I do you.
“Meanwhile” has to START the sentence. It can’t come in the middle between commas.