Federal Public Prosecutors recommended a 57 -month prison sentence on Thursday in favor of iPei Mizuhara, the former translator of Los Angeles Dodgers star AutaniAnd they issued an audio recording saying that it is impersonating Ohtani in an attempt to deliver money from the OHTANI bank account.
In a separate court file, Mizuhaa’s lawyer, Michael J. said. Friedman, Meshuha has suffered from gambling addiction since he was a teenager and asked for a 18 -month prison sentence.
Mizuhara was launched in March 2024 after Espn investigation He discovered that he sent millions of transportation operations wires from Utani’s account to a maker to illegal discharge. he Admit Banking fraud and submitting false tax declaration in June, admitting that he stole nearly $ 17 million from Otani to pay the debts of gambling to the illegal betting maker. It is scheduled to be sentenced to February 6.
According to the report of the prosecutors, Mezoha called the bank and impersonated my priest on about 24 occasions in order to deliver the money from the Ottani account. In the registration, which prosecutors said on February 2, 2022, a bank employee asked Mizuhara to identify himself.
“Who am I talking to him?” The employee requested the bank to register, which was first obtained by the athlete.
“Shuhai Utani,” Mizuhara answered.
Mizuhara, the bank employee, told that he could not log in to online banking services. “I tried to make a negative transfer two days ago,” he said. “
After reciting Mizuhara with a six -digit symbol, she sent him a text message to authenticated by a dual -factor, Mizuhara told her that he needed to send $ 200,000 to get a car loan.
“What is your relationship with the beneficiary?” The agent request.
“He is my friend,” Mizuhara answered.
“Did you meet your friend personally?” I asked.
“Yes, several times,” said Mizuhara.
“I just ask because we were unable to verify the treatment.” Mizuhara told her that he had received her via email, but later talked about it with the recipient personally.
“Will there be any future wires for your friend?” The agent request.
“Perhaps,” Mizuhara answered.
Prosecutors said that the clip had been edited to reduce the names of the bank and the person who receives the wires. ESPN mentioned in May that Mizuhara took some money to bank account Rayyan Boyagian, a betting colleague Matthew Bouer.
The general prosecutors also recommended that approximately $ 17 million in compensation to Ohtani, in addition to $ 1.1 million to the Tax Authority.
In his file, Friedman wrote that Mezzoha began gambling when he was 18 years old and visited the four to five times a week. At the age of twenty years, he began to play poker online and bet on sports. While working with Ohani in Los Angeles angelsMizuhara gambling increased due to the poker games hosted by other baseball players in hotel rooms, according to the file. ESPN previously reported that Mizuhara met Bowyer in the poker at the Team Hotel in San Diego in 2021.
Mizuhara has placed about 19,000 betting with BowYer over two years and accumulated more than $ 40 million of debt. Friedman wrote that Bewer gave Mezohaa a $ 20,000 balance.
Friedman added that Mizuhara attends unidentified meetings three times a week.
Prosecutors wrote in a separate file, however, that the addiction of gambling “cannot be completely explained by the defendant because the defendant used the stolen money for many personal expenses that have nothing to do with gambling.”
The representatives of the prosecution wrote: “In the end, the government did not establish, because the stimulating factor behind the defendant’s crimes was not addiction to gambling, but greed.”
In a letter also submitted to the American local court judge John W. Holkumb on Thursday, Mezoha wrote that he felt as if he were in contact around the clock throughout the week Hokkaido Nippon-Ham in Japan.
“Usually when a Japanese Pisbul player moves to the United States, they will attend many employees to take care of various tasks such as the driver, coach and tender Mizuhara:
Initially, the angels, the first detect team in the United States, paid Mizuhara $ 85,000 before increasing his salary to $ 250,000 in 2022, according to the prosecutor’s report. When he moved to the evaders with Ohtani in 2024, his salary rose to $ 500,000. Ohtani Mizuhara also paid a separate salary and gave him Porsche Cayenne, and majors of the deposit.
In his letter, Mizuhara wrote that Ohtani paid him nearly $ 2,500 a month from October to January and $ 125 to $ 130 monthly from February to September. Mezzoha said that he had struggled to meet his needs because he had to live near my dearer in California, pay the price of his wife’s travel between the United States and Japan, and rent the accommodations while traveling with Ohtani to Japan in external seasons.
“All these additional expenses were affecting me greatly and I was living a check on the salary, and I will have to borrow money from family and friends a few months away to meet their needs,” Mizuhara wrote.
Mizuhaa added that his wife, Naomi, also helped support Ohtiani. He cook his meals, saw his dog and helped him on the broken nails he suffered while erecting them.
“I really supported both Shohei and I am for her best abilities over the years and never complained through all this because she knew my priority is Shohei’s support for my best.”
In a separate message, Naomi told Meshuhaa that her “only family” after her parents and other family members recently lost, as well as the family dog. Unable to get a green card until 2023, described to become “emotionally unstable” and develop hearing loss and ARATA alopecia due to stress.
“I feel very sorry that he was unable to support him or note his struggles during that time,” she wrote.
At the end of his message, Mizuhara asked the judge and apologized to Ohtani.
“Finally, I really admire Beshi as a Pressbul player and a person, and I was committed to devoting my life so that I will be the best version of himself in the field,” Mizuhara wrote. “I want to say I am really sorry for violating his confidence.”
