Ippei Mizuhara, a former interplatter for Shohei Ohtani, pretended to be the Dodgers superstar on a call to the bank as he tried to clear a $200,000 wire transfer from one of the ballplayer's accounts.
Athletic has been released An audio clip from the Department of Justice referenced in a court filing in which federal prosecutors recommended that Mizuhara be sentenced to nearly five years in prison and pay restitution.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges and filing false tax returns after stealing approximately $17 million from Otani to cover gambling debts.
Audio recordings were obtained from the bank and showed how Zuhara circumvented the bank's security measures by routing Mizuhara's banking information to Mizuhara's emails and phone calls.
The clip begins with a person asking who they are talking to, to which Mizuhara replies, “shohei ohtani.”
Mizuhara went on to explain that they were experiencing problems logging into their online banking system, and after going through security procedures, bank representatives informed them that the bank had noticed a “trend in fraud and fraud.” I notified Otani. Alerts for online transactions.
The agent then asked the reason for the deal. It responded that it was for a car loan.
After telling the agent that the recipient is “a friend of mine,” he tells the bank employee that he has met personally in person “many times.”
“Does your friend have a future wire?” the bank agent asked.
“Yeah, probably,” he answered.
Suwon will be sentenced on February 6th.
Prosecutors expect Mizuhara to cite an addiction to gambling.
“Even if the defendant is addicted to gambling, it cannot fully explain the defendant's actions because he used the stolen funds for many personal expenses unrelated to gambling.” , Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell wrote in court, which was viewed by The Athletic. “Ultimately, the government submits, the motivating factor behind defendant's crimes was greed, not gambling addiction.”
