Ippei Mizuhara’s con of Shohei Ohtani was, for the most part, simple. Ohtani’s former performer had access to a bank account filled with Ohtani’s money, and he simply wrote checks, withdrew money, or wired funds whenever he made bets or had to pay fees. gambling debts.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud in June and was ordered to pay full restitution to his victims, including $16,975,010 to Ohtani and $1,149,400 to the IRS. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 24 in federal court.
But apparently Mizuhara found other ways to steal from Ohtani while the two-way baseball star was playing for the Angels and after he signed with the Dodgers in December 2023. On one occasion, Mizuhara needed $60,000 worth of dental work, and Ohtani approved payment from a business account. Mizuhara, however, deposited the money into his personal bank account and paid the dentist from the Ohtani account he illegally controlled, prosecutors said.
And shortly after Ohtani joined the Dodgers, Mizuhara purchased $325,000 worth of baseball cards that he apparently hoped would increase in value now that his boss was wearing blue. Some of the trading cards were signed and Mizuhara purchased them from online retailers eBay and Whatnot, according to court documents.
The cards were seized from Mizuhara and Ohtani had a hearing scheduled for Dec. 20 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to get them back.
The hearing is no longer necessary because prosecutors said in a court filing Monday that the cards — described by prosecutors as being in a “silver and black Panopply case” and a “gray Panopply case” — would be turned over to Ohtani when Mizuhara would be sentenced.
“Ohtani has a valid pre-existing interest in the forfeitable property because title to the forfeitable property was vested in him at the time of the commission of the acts giving rise to the forfeiture,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Mizuhara’s “insatiable appetite for illegal sports betting,” according to US Atty. E. Martin Estrada described it, will result in a lengthy prison sentence and almost certain deportation to Japan, Mizuhara’s country of birth.
Mizuhara pretended to be Ohtani during calls from his phone to bank employees about wire transfers, according to a 36-page complaint filed in April, and used biographical details from Ohtani’s life to overcome security challenges.
