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Tisha Thompson
Federal prosecutors disputed claims by shohei ohtani’s training interpreter that he stole from the slugger to pay back massive gambling debts, saying there was no evidence he suffered from a gambling addiction before he started draining the los angeles dodgers star ‘ THURSDAY.
IPPEI MIZUHARA should be sentenced on February 6 after his guilty plea in June. Last week, he asked the American district judge John W. Holcomb for an 18 -month sentence, instead of almost five -year -old prosecutors. Mizuhara said he was full of remorse and blamed crime to what he called a long -standing dependence on the game in which he “frequented the casinos four to five times a week”.
But in their new response, prosecutors have doubled their recommendation for determining the sentence and said that their research has shown that there was no evidence of long -standing dependence other than selfish and non -corroborated declarations of Mizuhara to the psychologist whom he hired in the end of the pain “.
“All the accused claim to have remorse at the time of conviction,” the prosecutors wrote. “The instructions must answer the question of whether the accused really has remorse or if they are simply sorry, they have been captured.”
Mizuhara’s lawyer Michael Freedman refused to comment on Thursday.
The prosecutors said that the government’s investigation revealed that “only minimal evidence” of the Mizuhara’s past legal game, declaring that the investigators had examined more than 30 casinos across the country and that “the only proof was that the defendant spent $ 200 at Mirage Casino for a weekend in 2008.
The prosecutors have joined a document containing a color photocopy of the Mizuhara driving license in California, as well as images of spreadsheet showing bets which he has placed in Mirage.
Mizuhara signed up for an account on Fanduel in 2018, but has never placed a bet on the website, according to prosecutors. He started betting with the Draftocks in 2023 after having “already stolen millions of dollars to Mr. Ohtani,” said the deposit.
Other exhibitions have shown that Mizuhara placing bets ranging from $ 5 to $ 1,400 on the NBA, NHL, football and college baseball matches.
Prosecutors argue that Mizuhara did not accumulate a “huge debt” which forced him to fly from Ohtani, as Mizuhara claimed. At the time of the first fraudulent bank transfer of Ohtani’s bank account, for “a modest of $ 40,000” in September 2021, Mizuhara had more than $ 34,000 in his current account, prosecutors said.
“(Mizuhara) could have used his own money to pay the bookmaker but rather chose to fly Mr. Ohtani,” the prosecutors wrote.
They allege that Mizuhara has deposited money that he received from his earnings from the bookmaker and drafts in his personal account and “had no intention of reimbursing Mr. Ohtani”.
In his file in Holcomb, Mizuhara said he “had to rent a place” near Ohtani and “a high rent” where he finally moved to Newport Beach, California, while simultaneously paying rent for a Apartment in Japan. He also declared in his file that he “lived the pay check check.”
“But it is not true either,” wrote the prosecutors in their file, subjecting bank statements as evidence showing “He used Mr. Ohtani’s debit card to pay his rent” Without “knowledge or authorization” ‘Ohtani.
“He had no expenditure,” continued the prosecutors. “He had no loans, car payments or rent costs”, noting that Ohtani gave Mizuhara a Porsche to drive.
Mizuhara Always Had a “significant balance” in His checking account, prosecutors state, noting it was more than $ 30,000 in March 2023 and more than $ 195,000 in March 2024, when worry from Espn Led to his firing from the dodgers and to ohtani’s attorts calling the The transfers of wire a “solid flight”.
Prosecutors also said Mizuhara had refused the book and trade agreements despite Ohtani encourage him “to accept agreements”. Mizuhara “actually wrote at least one book” – A book for children illustrated on Ohtani, according to an exhibition.
Prosecutors have concluded their file by declaring that “an important period of importance is necessary” and reiterated its request for a sentence of 57 months in prison, three years of supervised release, more than $ 16 million in restitution in Ohtani and 1 , $ 1 million at IRS.
“There is no doubt” Mizuhara “is ashamed of the international attention he received from his fraud regimes and his network of lies,” wrote prosecutors. “But instead of showing real remorse”, according to them, Mizuhara tries to “justify steal millions of people to Mr. Ohtani”.
