It appears that the most popular baseball player in the world is the victim in a story of deception and betrayal.
Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese native and pitcher/designated hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers, allegedly had $16M stolen from him over the course of the last few years by his once trusted confidant and translator, Ippei Mizuhara, according to a criminal complaint filed jointly by the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal division, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The story is as complex as it is sad and according to U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, “Mr. Mizuhara stole this money largely to finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting.”
Sports betting has grown significantly in recent years as many states have legalized the activity, however; California is not one of those states. Mizuhara was making sports bets on football, soccer and other sports (not baseball) through an illegal bookmaker, Matthew Bowyer. Unlike the popular online sports betting sites where you are not permitted to make a bet for an amount in excess of your account balance, illegal bookmakers may allow you to bet on “credit” and choose amounts to settle on when winnings or losses reach a certain threshold. Mizuhara was not a successful gambler and accrued large debts while betting with Bowyer.
What Makes the Ippei Mizuhara Case Unique?
The case is quite unique in the sense that Ohtani speaks little English and relied on Mizuhara to help him set up an account at a bank branch in Arizona in 2018. Ohtani received direct deposit of his salary from his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, into this account. Although Ohtani relied heavily on Mizuhara to help him navigate most aspects of life in the United States, Ohtani never granted Mizuhara access to his bank account.
In late 2021, as Mizuhara began losing large sums of money betting with Bowyer, Mizuhara allegedly changed the phone number and email address associated with Ohtani’s account to his own information. In February 2022, Mizuhara called Ohtani’s bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani. Mizuhara, claiming to be Ohtani, stated he needed to wire funds to Bowyer for a car loan.
Mizuhara’s first request was unsuccessful, but he did call the bank back and eventually gained access to Ohtani’s account by answering Ohtani’s security questions correctly. Because Mizuhara assigned the phone number associated with the account as his own, he was able to confirm large wire amounts on the phone with bank employees.
Over the course of 2021 – 2024, more than $16M was wired from Ohtani’s account to Bowyer’s account without Ohtani’s knowledge, the criminal complaint alleges. Mizuhara also allegedly denied account access to Ohtani’s financial advisors and accountants, claiming that Ohtani was the one who desired their access be limited.
Typically, banks institute multi-factor authentication requirements when performing wire transfers. These authentication procedures were allegedly in place on Ohtani’s account, but because the account phone number and email address were linked to Mizuhara’s information, Mizuhara allegedly confirmed wire transfers and operated without detection by Ohtani until March 2024.
The alleged Mizuhara wire fraud case highlights the desperate measures that individuals may resort to when gripped by addiction.
Mizuhara’s alleged betrayal of trust of Ohtani is poignant as the two became each other’s closest friends in the world and Mizuhara was someone whom Ohtani relied on to be his ears and voice in the United States.
From a banking perspective, banks may have controls in place to prevent wire fraud and also to understand the risks associated with customer activity. However, it is difficult for even the most well-developed control environments to counteract the alleged deception displayed by Ippei Mizuhara. If you want to read more about controls that can be put into place to help to detect and prevent wire fraud, click here.
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