In an affidavit filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California on Thursday (11 April), IRS criminal investigator Chris Seymour revealed that baseball star Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara fraudulently transferred $16m from the baseball player's account to an illegal bookmaker over the span of 26 months.
According to the affidavit, Mizuhara texted the bookmaker, “Technically I did steal from him. It’s all over for me,” on the day the story first broke.
According to the New York Times, Mizuhara is negotiating for a plea deal.
Throughout the affidavit, Ohtani is referred to as “Victim A” and, in a press conference, US Attorney Martin Estrada said “Mr Ohtani is considered a victim in this case.” Major League Baseball released a statement saying that it “will wait until resolution of the criminal proceeding to determine whether further investigation is warranted”.
Since the story broke 20 March, Ohtani, the two-way Japanese baseball sta..
