Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani is going to court to get his ex-interpreter to return $325,000 worth of baseball cards, reports USA Today.
Ohtani alleges the cards of the superstar all autographed by him were purchased with some of the $17 million dollars stolen from him by Ippei Mizuhara from his bank account.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to stealing the money and is expected to be sentenced in January.
In a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s office published in the Bleacher Report, it said:
“Mizuhara allegedly telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation.
“From January 2024 to March 2024, he also allegedly used this same account to purchase via eBay and Whatnot approximately 1,000 baseball cards – at a cost of approximately $325,000 – and had them mailed to Mizuhara under an alias, ‘Jay Min,’ and mailed to the clubhouse for Ohtani’s current MLB team.”
NBC Sports reports Mizuhara’s attorney, Michael G. Freedman is declining to comment.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All donations are tax deductible and can be made here.
Please follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.