A nearly four-minute recording allegedly made of Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara impersonated the baseball star during a phone call with a bank as he tried to transfer $200,000, federal prosecutors said Thursday. of $200,000 in exchange for what he described as a car loan.
The recording, cited in court documents and obtained by The Associated Press, is supporting prosecutors’ sentence of nearly five years in prison for Swiss Ha, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly $17 million from Los Angeles. star of the dodgers.
Prosecutors are also seeking nearly $17 million in restitution from Ohtani and more than $1 million in fines from the IRS.
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Mizuhara will plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return when she is sentenced on February 6.
His attorney, Michael G. Freedman, did not respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
In the recording, a person is heard identifying himself as Ohtani and saying he was trying to log into online banking but it wasn’t available yet. He later confirmed the transaction amount was $200,000.
When the woman at the bank asked him the reason for the transaction, he said it was a car loan.
“What is your relationship to the payee?” she asked.
“Well, he’s my friend,” the man replied.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell, the recording was obtained from the bank. It’s unclear when it will be produced.
At the end of the call, the woman at the bank asked, “Will your friend have any future wires?”
“Maybe,” the man said.
The recording was first obtained by Athletics.
The legal filing says Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s account starting around November 2021 and changed its security protocols so that he could impersonate him to authorize wire transfers. Mizuhara allegedly used the money to purchase approximately $325,000 worth of baseball cards through 2024 on online resellers eBay and Whatnot.
The state pleaded guilty in June to spending millions of dollars from Ohtani’s Arizona Bank account through illegal bookmakers as well as medical bills and a baseball worth $325,000. cards to pay for his growing gambling stakes and debts.
Many of Mizuhara’s career highlights were there: He was Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game, and his two The American League MVP won the championship and made $700 million, a 10-year record. With the Dodgers. Off the court, he became Ohtani’s friend and confidant.
During Major League Baseball’s 2021 lockdown, Mizuhara famously resigned from the Los Angeles Angels so he could continue talking to Ohtani – who was rehired after a deal was struck – according to reports Their wives socialize.
But he gambled, betting tens of millions of dollars, not least on international soccer, NBA, NFL and college football – although prosecutors said he never bet on baseball.
