big leagues

The Angels. Ippei Mizuhara, who was a translator and close friend of Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani for years, was accused Thursday of stealing more than $16 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar’s account to pay off gambling debts.

A California prosecutor charged Mizuhara, 39, with bank fraud for allegedly making a series of unauthorized transfers from Ohtani’s account between November 2021 and January 2024, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The text noted that there is no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of or involved in Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity.

Ohtani, the biggest figure in baseball today, joined the Dodgers last December with a record contract estimated at around $700 million for ten years.

The 29-year-old Japanese player told reporters last month that he had never bet on baseball and was unaware of Mizuhara’s gambling problems.

According to the Department of Justice, Mizuhara transferred more than $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account “to pay his own substantial gambling debts incurred from an illegal gambling operation.”

In the story of the alleged fraud, the agency noted that the interpreter accompanied Ohtani, who did not speak English at that time, to a bank branch in the state of Arizona in 2018 to open an account.

“Ohtani’s salary for playing professional baseball was deposited into this account and he never gave Mizuhara control of this or any of his other financial accounts,” according to an affidavit in the case.

“Mizuhara allegedly told Ohtani’s financial professionals in the United States, none of whom spoke Japanese, that the baseball player had denied them access to the account,” he added.

Contact information for Ohtani’s bank account was later changed to link it to Mizuhara’s phone number and an anonymous email address related to the translator, according to the affidavit.

Mizuhara would also have identified himself as Ohtani to deceive bank employees and get them to authorize bank transfers.

The Justice Department said Ohtani denied in his statement that he authorized the Mizuhara transfers.

“Ohtani provided his cell phone to law enforcement, who determined that there was no evidence to suggest that he was aware of or involved in Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or in the payment of those debts,” the agency said.

Major League Baseball’s betting policy prohibits “any player, umpire or member of a club or league” from placing bets on baseball and also illegally betting on any other sport.

Players found guilty of betting on a match in which they participated are subject to lifetime bans. In the event that it occurred in duels in which they were not involved, the suspension could be one year.

Bank fraud is punishable in the United States with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

The Japanese, two-time MVP of the American League, has a unique combination of elite pitching and hitting for which he has been compared to the legendary Babe Ruth since he landed six years ago in the United States to play for the Los Angeles Angels. with whom the contract ended last year.