Baseball
Japanese interpreter charged with stealing $16 million from MLB star Shohei Ohtani
Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter was charged with bank fraud on Thursday in federal court and accused of stealing $16 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers power-hitting pitcher to cover gambling debts.
According to a 36-page criminal complaint and affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Ippei Mizuhara embezzled the money from an account of Ohtani’s that Mizuhara had helped set up and sent the funds without Ohtani’s knowledge to an illegal sports gambling operation
U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada, announcing the results of his investigation at a news conference, stressed that there was nothing to suggest wrongdoing by Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract to join the Dodgers this season as the league’s highest-paid player.
“I want to emphasize this point. Mr. Ohtani was a victim in this case. There’s no evidence to indicate that Mr. Ohtani authorized the over $16 million in transfers from his account to the bookmakers,” Estrada said.
The outcome spared the Dodgers and Major League Baseball a potential scandal of epic proportions, recalling the controversy stirred 35 years ago when Pete Rose was accused of gambling on baseball games, including those of his own team, while he played for and managed the Cincinnati Reds.
Those allegations led MLB to permanently ban Rose from baseball in 1989. Rose later admitted to wagering on MLB games, including those played by the Reds but said he never bet against his own team.
Ohtani, 29, whose talents as a slugger and a pitcher have earned him comparisons to Babe Ruth, told reporters at a March 25 press conference that he was a victim of theft by Mizuhara and that he never bet on baseball or knowingly paid a bookmaker.
Mizuhara, 39, has agreed to turn himself over to federal authorities on Friday and was expected to make his initial court appearance that afternoon, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The defendant will not be asked to enter a plea and is expected to be released on bond, Mrozek added.
If convicted on the single count of bank fraud with which he is charged, Mizuhara could face a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Mizuhara’s attorney, Michael Freedman, told Reuters on Thursday that his client had no comment on the charge.
Starting in late 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book and losing substantial sums, according to the federal affidavit.
To cover his debts, Mizuhara repeatedly impersonated Ohtani to “trick and deceive” bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s account, where the player’s baseball salary was deposited, the affidavit said.
Last month, while messaging a bookmaker about reports surfacing then that Mizuhara had stolen from Ohtani, Mizuhara wrote, “Technically I did steal from him. It’s all over for me,” according to the affidavit.
Mizuhara “used and abused” his unique position of trust “to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s bank account,” Estrada told reporters.
Mizuhara, who met Ohtani in 2013 when they were both with Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters team, was Ohtani’s near-constant companion during his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. The interpreter was fired by the Dodgers in March.
Days later, Ohtani told reporters at the March 25 press conference that Mizuhara had admitted to him that he had been using Ohtani’s account to make the payments, and said he was “saddened and shocked” by the betrayal.
Estrada said at Thursday’s press conference that a Japanese linguist had reviewed thousands of communications between Ohtani and Mizuhara and had found no discussions between the two about betting or authorizing transfers to bookmakers.
The investigation into Mizuhara grew out of an ongoing, broader probe by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security into illegal sports gambling operations throughout Southern California, Estrada said.
-Reuters
General Ishola Williams (Rtd) is credited to be the man who introduced baseball to Nigeria in 1989 in Minna when he brought some instructors from the US. He was the first National Chairman of the Nigeria Baseball & Softball Association.
Ishola who has a knack for the development of baseball and other sports in Nigeria was at the just concluded Baseball5 Western Regional championship at the NIS Sports Complex Gymnasium of National Stadium. In this interview, he spoke exclusively with JOSEPH ODOEKWU about the troubles encountered by baseball and other sports in Nigeria. Excerpts
Sir, what were your reasons for the introduction of baseball in Nigeria?
There were three main reasons. The first was that I wanted to create an opportunity for young Nigerian athletes who were good enough in baseball to go to the United States and school and also play baseball there, just like it is in basketball and other sports that originated from the US.
The second reason was that it affords the athlete an opportunity to become professionals while being athletes in the US and some other parts of Asia, while the third reason was that I wanted Nigeria to compete favourably with South Africa in baseball which is the best team in Africa today and so that our players can benefit from all the opportunities that comes with baseball.
Were you able to achieve these goals?
Unfortunately these goals were not achieved and it is because of the obstacles in Nigeria
What are these obstacles, can you be elaborate sir?
The obstacles basically have to do with the Nigerian system and how it works. And till date, those obstacles that hindered the realization of those goals are still affecting other sports in Nigeria and that is very bad. And that is why till today Nigeria is dependent on foreign-based players to play for the country.
If you look at the basketball team that played for Nigeria at the Olympics, they are all based abroad and the same thing applies to even our football. In fact, if we take the government away from football today, football will die in Nigeria and yet football has been in Nigeria for nearly 100 years, but yet we are not ashamed. We think we are playing football and we want to win the World Cup?
What other obstacle is affecting baseball development in Nigeria?
Another obstacle affecting baseball development in Nigeria is equipment. When you look at baseball and softball in Nigeria the equipment are not made in Nigeria. So we have to buy them from abroad and they do not come cheap.
We need baseball playgrounds also, even though today we are lucky we have a baseball park in Ilorin which is of international standard, but are they maintaining it?
With all efforts we made to manufacture baseball materials in Nigeria, people are not ready to help. So there are so many obstacles impeding baseball and sports development in Nigeria. The obstacles are at the state, federal and even at the local government levels. There are directors of sports, ministers of sports that all they do is to squander the money, that’s all.
And they want us to win, they are joking. If there are no professional sports in Nigeria managed by the private sector or rich individuals, we are not going to get anywhere in sports
Has the standard of play in baseball met your expectations in Nigeria?
Of course it has not met my expectations and it will never meet with the rate at which we are going. And I do not blame those who succeeded me because it is not easy to overcome the challenges and obstacles that are in Nigeria.
Secondly, when you turn on your television or go to the pages of the newspapers, it is football you see mostly.
They manage to squeeze a page for other sports. Even if you look at the basketball that did well at this Olympics, the media gave them scanty coverage and as soon as this Olympics was over, you will not hear anything again about D’Tigress.
It is football! football!! fFootball!!! In fact, even in coverage of football in Nigeria, the main focus is on European leagues such as the English Premier League, La Liga and others all over the place.
Where is the room for other sports? And the truth is if you do not show other sports they cannot become popular. This requires common sense but I have found out that even the journalists go to where they will get paid, and I really cannot blame them because they have to earn a living. But they have also forgotten that they can grow with a sport.
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
Even though the Nigerian team did not make it to the final match of the Beseball5 Championship, one of the prime movers of the sport in the country, Dr. Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuike has remarked that the future of the sport is very bright in the country.
Okereke-Onyiuike who is a former director general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the first female stockbroker in the country said that baseball will be the second most preferred sport to football.
She was speaking at the NIS Gymnasium in the premises of the National Stadium, Lagos.
“We know that football is our most preferred sport in Nigeria, we don’t want it to die. But we want baseball to become Nigeria’s second most preferred sports”.
Continuing, she said: “I have lived in the United States of America and see how baseball is. It is a beautiful game and I know that if we nurture it very well here in Nigeria it will become Nigeria’s second most preferred”.
She added that she had been using her contacts to support baseball in Nigeria. She regretted that her effort and that of others have not yielded their desired result, even though baseball is now known.
“We know that the knowledge of baseball has improved in Nigeria, but its current awareness is not up to our expectations”.”But we shall continue to give our best to ensure that its awareness continues”.
She further charged the media to do their best in publicizing baseball.
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The Nigeria baseball5 youth team suffered a defeat in their opener against Ghana on Saturday but rose beat Benin Republic 2-0 in their second match.
Nigeria secured 2 runs within the first two minutes of play to boost their hope of a win over their West African neighbours and were more tactical in the game.
There was also massive home support for Nigeria in this encounter courtesy of younger players from the Lagos State Baseball team who cheered them to their first victory in the championship.
The first set ended with Nigeria finishing with 13 runs against Benin Republic who had 1 run before the break was observed.
The second set gave some inspiration to both sides but Nigeria triumphed again with a 13-3 victory where Benin recorded their highest runs.
In the fourth and final game of the day, defending champions Ghana failed to find their rhythm against a determined Tunisia winning by 2-0.
Their game could be best described as the final before the final as tactical battle emanating from both benches resulted in several calls on umpires by managers and the atmosphere becoming heated as tempers rose.
In the bid to avoid any tendency that could lead to rancour as the game was becoming rowdy, the umpires had to call managers of both sides together for a pep talk at the end of the first set where they held a meeting. Tunisia however won the first set with 19 runs while Ghana had 5 runs before the break.
After the five minute break, Tunisia continued their dominance taking an early 2 runs lead within a space of five minutes. Ghana’s effort to comeback did not yield any result as Tunisia won again with 8-3 to ensure the game did not go into a third set.
The competition continues on Sunday which is the final day with Ghana facing Benin Republic, while Tunisia confront Nigeria.
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