OAN’s Avril Elfie
4:53 PM – Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter for player Shohei Ohtani, has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud charges. He now faces a possible sentence of up to 33 years in prison.
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According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Mizuhara agreed to plead guilty to stealing nearly $7 million from Ohtani to “cover gambling debts.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced that Mizuhara, 39, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud (up to 30 years in prison) and one count of false tax collection. If reinstated, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is egregious,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “He used his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel his dangerous gambling habits. We are committed to ensuring that we are exposed to
The plea agreement states that the 39-year-old interpreter helped Ohtani open a bank account in Phoenix in 2018 and “interpreted the login information” for Ohtani’s account.
In late September 2021, Mizuhara started gambling on sports with an illegal bookmaker and ended up incurring a large amount of debt.
“Unable to pay his gambling debts, Mr. Mizuhara orchestrated a scheme to defraud banks and fraudulently withdraw money from his accounts,” the Justice Department said in a release.
Mizuhara then accessed the account and updated the security information so that bank employees would contact Mizuhara instead of Otani if a wire transfer required further confirmation from the account holder. be done. The complaint also states that he impersonated Otani on phone calls to the bank.
From November 2021 to March 2024, Mizuhara transferred approximately $7 million from his account to bookmaker affiliates in more than 40 wires without Otani’s knowledge.
The interpreter also admitted that he falsely claimed that his total taxable income for 2022 was $136,865, when in fact he failed to report an additional $4.1 million in income.
The Justice Department said that “the source of the undeclared income was from his scheme to defraud banks,” and that he would be required to pay approximately $1,149,400 in additional taxes for the 2022 tax year, plus additional interest and penalties. He pointed out that there is.
Estrada previously stressed that Ohtani is a “victim in the incident” and is cooperating “fully and fully” with the investigation.
March 20thth, In response to the gambling controversy, the Dodgers announced that they had fired their Japanese interpreter. However, there was no detailed explanation as to why Mizuhara was fired.
Mr. Mizuhara was indicted last month, according to a statement from his lawyer, Michael Friedman. ABC News After Mr. Mizuhara’s first court appearance on April 12th.th“We continue to cooperate with the legal process and hope to reach an agreement with the government to resolve this case as soon as possible so that we can be held accountable,” he said.
“He wishes to apologize to Mr. Ohtani, the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and his family,” the statement continued. “As noted in court, he is seeking gambling treatment.”
March 25ththOtani addressed the scandal at a press conference, saying he was “very sad and shocked.” [he] Someone you trust did this. ”
According to the Department of Justice, Mizuhara is scheduled to be arraigned in the coming weeks, with the arraignment scheduled for May 14.th.
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