LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter has agreed to plead guilty over charges of illegally transferring nearly $17 million from the baseball star ‘s bank account in order to pay off gambling debts, the United States Justice Department said Wednesday (Thursday Manila time).
Ippei Mizuhara, 39, will plead guilty to one count of bank fraud — punishable by up to 30 years in prison — and one count of filing a false tax return, which carries a maximum sentence of three years, the Justice Department said.
Fede ral prosecutors have said Mizuhara — Ohtani’s longtime friend and confidant — plundered millions from the Los Angeles Dodgers ace’s bank account to fund an “insatiable appetite” for gambling.
Mizuhara is expected to formally enter his guilty plea in the coming weeks, with arraignment scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on May 14.
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” United States Attorney Martin Estr ada said in a statement on Wednesday.
“He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit,” Estrada added.
Japanese s ensation Ohtani, currently the biggest star in baseball, joined the Dodgers last December in a record-breaking $700-million deal — the richest contract in North American sports history.
Tyler Hatcher, special agent in charge from the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation unit, said the probe had revealed Mizuhara “not only stole from Mr Ohtani, but also that he lied to the IRS about his income.”
“Mr Mizuhara exploited his relationship with Mr Ohtani to bankroll his own irresponsibility,” Hatcher said in a statement.
Mizuhara’s guilty plea had been expected.
After an initial court appearance last month, his lawyer said he wished to apologize to “Ohtani, the Dodgers, and Major League Baseball” for his actions and sought a swift resolution so he can “take responsibility.”
The revelations surrounding Mizuhara erupted as the n ew baseball season got under way in March, stunning the sports world and potentially embroiling Ohtani in scandal.
Prosecutors have repeatedly emphasized that Ohtani was an innocent victim of Mizuhara’s deception, and that there was no evidence to suggest the Dodgers star was aware of or involved in illegal gambling.
A criminal complaint released by prosecutors last month detailed a staggering volume of bets placed by Mizuhara, who exploited the language barrier to keep Ohtani, his financial advisors and management team in the dark about his crimes.
The complaint revealed that between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara placed approximately 19,000 bets ranging in value from $10 to $160,000 at an average of around $12,800 per bet.
During that period, Mizuhara had winning bets worth $142.3 million, and losing bets of $182.9 million — leaving him with losses of roughly $40.7 million.
The complaint detailed that contact information on Ohtani’s bank account was later changed to link it to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address connected to Mizuhara.
Mizuhara also would allegedly falsely identify himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers.
Bank recordings of telephone calls captured Mizuhara impersonating Ohtani as he sought to make wire transfers.
Major League Baseball’s gambling policy bars “any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee” from betting on baseball or making illegal bets on any other sport.
Players found guilty of betting on a game they were involved in are subject to life bans, with one-year suspensions if they are found to have gambled on games they are not directly involved in.
Ohtani is a rarity in baseball in that he combines elite-level pitching and hitting ability, making him a generational talent who has been portrayed as a modern-day version of Babe Ruth.
Those skills and his clean-cut image have made him the global face of baseball.
Ohtani is currently leading baseball’s key hitting rankings, with an MLB-leading average of .358 as well as an MLB-best 11 home runs.
LOS ANGELES – Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was named NBA Most valuable Player for the third time in four seasons on Wednesday (Thursday Manila time).
The 29-year-old Serbian star, who won the award in 2021 and 2022, finished runner-up in the voting in 2023 but had the satisfaction of leading the Nuggets to a first NBA title.
This season, he averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists in the regular season and beat out Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks in final voting for the award.
He became the second player, after Oscar Robertson, to record 2,000 points, 900 rebounds and 600 assists in a season.
His 25 triple-doubles and 68 double-doubles were both second in the league.
Jokic enters elite territory with a third MVP crown. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six MVPs are the most ever. Bill Russell and Michael Jordan won five apiece and Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James four.
Jokic joins Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as three-time winners after earning 79 first-placed votes compared to 15 for Gilgeous-Alexander and four for Doncic.
Behind Jokic, the 57-25 Nuggets matched the franchise high for victories in a season — although they were tied for best record in the West with Oklahoma City and ended up with the second seed.
Whether Jokic will be able to combine an MVP award and the title this season remains to be seen.
The Nuggets dropped the first two games of their Western Conference semifinal series to the Minnesota Timberwolves and face the tough task of trying to claw back on the Timberwolves’ home court starting on Friday.
Jokic’s victory marks the sixth straight season that the MVP award has gone to a player born outside the United States. The last US-born player to win was James Harden in 2018.