As it turns out, translator Ippei Mizuhara didn’t allegedly steal $4.5 million from Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.
Mizuhara allegedly stole more than $16 million. He will be charged with bank fraud.
That’s the contention in the affidavit filed Thursday as part of a criminal complaint signed by FBI special agent Chris Seymour.
From December 2021 through January 2024, Mizuhara allegedly averaged 25 bets per day. The wagers ranged from $10,000 to $160,000, with the average bet being roughly $12,800. There is no record that he bet on baseball games.
The wins totaled $142,256,769.74, an the losses totaled $182,935,206.68. The losses were more than $40 million.
It’s unclear where the other $24 million came from, and if it was ever paid.
Mizuhara allegedly impersonated Ohtani at times, in order to get money from his bank accounts.
Perhaps the most significant paragraph in the 36-page affidavit is the last one: “On or about March 20, 2024, MIZUHARA messaged BOOKMAKER 1 stating, ‘Have you seen the reports?’ BOOKMAKER 1 responded, ‘Yes, but that’s all bullshit. Obviously you didn’t steal from him. I understand it’s a cover job I totally get it.’ MIZUHARA then responded to BOOKMAKER 1, ‘Technically I did steal from him. it’s all over for me.’”
The feds are seizing on that response as conclusive proof that Mizuhara stole money from Ohtani. But what does it mean for Mizuhara to say, “Technically I did steal from him”? Why “technically”?
It’s possibly something that will come to light as part of Mizuhara’s defense. And there might still be one. As of last night, Mizuhara was reportedly negotiating a plea deal. If a plea deal was going to be concluded, there was no reason for a 36-page affidavit to be filed and published.
There’s a chance — and for now it’s just a chance — that Mizuhara is executing a predetermined cover story aimed at protecting Ohtani. It remains to be seen whether Mizuhara will continue to stick with that story once he realizes how much time he could end up serving in the custody of the federal government.
I’m only saying this because: (1) the bookie said “it’s a cover job”; and (2) Mizuhara said in response, “Technically I did steal from him.”
What did he mean by “technically”? That could be the key to determining whether Ohtani ultimately has a problem with Major League Baseball.
The affidavit concludes that Ohtani had no knowledge of the betting in which Mizuhara was engaged because Mizuhara’s phone showed no evidence of conversations with Ohtani regarding gambling or bookmakers or odds, and that Ohtani’s phone (which was voluntarily produced for a search) had no evidence of gambling or communication with any of the bookies Mizuhara used. While plenty of people get careless with their digital footprints, it’s not impossible that Ohtani and Mizuhara confined their communications on the issue of gambling to face-to-face conversations or phone calls, with no text messages or other digital footprints leading back to Ohtani.
They also could have used burner phones.
One more thing, along those same lines. The affidavit (as mentioned above) specifically says that Mizuhara never bet on baseball. If he was going to violate Major League Baseball rules, and California law, by betting on a wide range of sports (including, of all things, college soccer), why not bet on baseball? If it all came to light, he was destined to be fired by the Dodgers anyway.
The decision to stay away from betting on baseball could actually strengthen the notion that Ohtani bankrolled the effort and was at least tangentially and at most intimately involved in it. Common sense suggests that Mizuhara wouldn’t have avoided betting on baseball to protect himself. He would have done it to protect Ohtani.
If — and the key word continues to be if — it turns out that the bookie’s assessment of a “cover job” is accurate, Ohtani will now have a problem more significant than discipline from Major League Baseball. He has told federal authorities that Mizuhara stole from him. If that didn’t happen, Ohtani faces a potential claim that he lied to federal agents.
Again, for now, Ohtani is accused of nothing. If/when Mizuhara mounts a vigorous defense, it’s possible that Mizuhara claims that it was indeed a “cover job,” and that he was always going to be the fall guy.
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