This story is getting more and more insane…
The cheating scandal involving superstar Shohei Ohtani (29) has been keeping the baseball world in suspense for weeks. Ippei Mizuhara (39), the Japanese’s long-time interpreter, is said to have stolen more than 16 million dollars (around 15 million euros) from the MLB professional’s account.
This emerges from a complaint by the US Attorney’s Office. Mizuhara is accused of bank fraud and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
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He used the stolen millions in money to pay off gambling debts to an illegal betting provider. According to the lawsuit, Mizuhara made an average of 25 bets per day between December 2021 and January 2024.
And lost crazy amounts of money in the process!
The profits are said to amount to 142 million dollars (around 133 million euros), while the losses amount to 183 million dollars (around 171 million euros). In total, Mizuhara would have gambled away $41 million (around €38 million).
To cover the losses, Mizuhara stole from his long-time friend Ohtani. He is one of the best baseball players in the world and was named most valuable player in the American League (AL) in 2021 and 2023.
Ko in the middle of the gameBrutal beating video shocks the internet
Quelle: X/Twitter @Tim_Chase712.04.2024
Last December, Ohtani moved from the Angels to the Dodgers in Los Angeles and signed a ten-year contract worth $700 million (around €656 million).
Since his MLB debut in 2018, Mizuhara has been constantly at his side as an interpreter and was unofficially considered the exceptional player’s manager. The close relationship also allowed him to block financial advisors from gaining insight into Ohtani’s account. The theft worth millions went unnoticed for a long time.
In March 2024, an “ESPN” investigation finally brought the case to the public. In an interview with the US media, Mizuhara initially explained that Ohtani transferred the funds to the illegal betting operator himself to help him with his betting addiction.
Unfortunately the content is no longer available.
But just hours later, Mizuhara changed his version and admitted that Ohtani knew nothing about the payments.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday: “I want to emphasize this point: Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case. Mr. Mizuhara exploited and abused this position of trust to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s bank account of over $16 million.”
After the case became known, Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers on March 20th. Things could now get much worse for the interpreter thief…
2024-04-12 17:00:21
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