In court documents this week, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani asserted that his former interpreter was unlawfully in possession of precious baseball cards that were legally his.
According to a U.S. district court petition by the player and his lawyer, Blair Berk, Ohtani is attempting to recoup $325,000 worth of baseball cards that he believes former assistant Ippei Mizuhara fraudulently purchased earlier this year.
According to authorities, Mizuhara earlier entered a guilty plea to unlawfully taking $17 million from Ohtani’s account in order to finance the interpreter’s extensive gambling habit.
Ohtani and his attorney said in a federal court filing on Tuesday that some of the stolen money was spent for collectibles.
According to the plaintiffs, the defendant paid for over $325,000 worth of baseball cards from online retailers eBay and Whatnot between January and March 2024 using funds taken out of the petitioner’s bank account.
According to Ohtani’s legal team, Mizuhara also possesses a number of individually signed collectible baseball cards that belong to the Petitioner and that were unlawfully and unjustly in the custody of the Defendant at the time of their seizure.
On Friday, a representative for Mizuhara, who faces sentencing in January, was not immediately available for comment.
When the Dodgers began their 2024 regular season in Seoul in late March, the first reports of Mizuhara’s involvement with sports betting surfaced.
No criminal enforcement agency has ever accused Ohtani of sports betting, and he has denied ever doing so.
That discomfort didn’t last long, if Ohtani was any all distracted by the Mizuhara controversy. As he led his Dodgers to their first full-season World Series championship since 1988, the $700 million athlete went on to win the National League MVP award.
Sports betting is presently legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia.
MLB players and team staff are legally forbidden from placing bets on their sport, and sports betting is illegal in California.
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