Shohei Ohtani is recouping the baseball cards his former interpreter bought with his money
The U.S. Department of Justice laid bare a scathing case against Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. The evidence that pointed to Mizuhara as the culprit in a scheme to defraud Ohtani of $17 million from Feb. 2022 to Jan. 2024 was so overwhelming, MLB immediately dropped its investigation of Ohtani when Mizuhara pled guilty in June to charges of fraud and tax fraud.
Ohtani might not be able to recover all of the money stolen from his account. But he is, as of Monday, able to recover some $325,000 worth of baseball cards Mizuhara bought between January and March of this year, according to a new government filing reported by The Athletic on Monday.
When Mizuhara entered his guilty plea, the 39-year-old former interpreter was required to pay full restitution to his victims, which includes $16,975,010 to Ohtani, and $1,149,400 to the IRS. Sentencing in the case was recently postponed until January.
According to the Associated Press, it's possible Mizuhara would additionally be deported to Japan.
Sam Blum of The Athletic reports that the cards were likely part of numerous ploys by Mizuhara to steal from Ohtani, who employed Mizuhara as his interpreter when he signed with the Angels in Dec. 2017 and fired him in March, after Mizuhara confessed to stealing from him.
“Our investigation has revealed that due to the position of trust he occupied with Mr. Ohtani, Mr. Mizuhara had unique access to Mr. Ohtani’s finances,” United States Attorney E. Martin Estrada said in a written complaint. “Mr. Mizuhara used that position of trust in order to use and abuse Mr. Ohtani.”
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