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Post by BearClause on Mar 24, 2024 19:18:12 GMT -5
I suspect that's true. Paying off his interpreter's debt wouldn't necessarily be a crime, or would at least require his knowledge that the debt was illegal in order to successfully prosecute, but those circumstances wouldn't necessarily shield Ohtani from MLB sanctions. I'm not sure if knowledge that it was illegal would preclude charging anyone with a crime. But at the very least, the law does look like it might apply to Ohtani. I can't imaging he'd be convicted and sentenced to jail for just paying off a friend's debts. The most I'd think might happen would be some diversion program. I'm looking at one part of California law and forwarding money that's been pledged would seem to apply.
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Post by volleyguy on Mar 24, 2024 19:22:46 GMT -5
I suspect that's true. Paying off his interpreter's debt wouldn't necessarily be a crime, or would at least require his knowledge that the debt was illegal in order to successfully prosecute, but those circumstances wouldn't necessarily shield Ohtani from MLB sanctions. I'm not sure if knowledge that it was illegal would preclude charging anyone with a crime. But at the very least, the law does look like it might apply to Ohtani. I can't imaging he'd be convicted and sentenced to jail for just paying off a friend's debts. The most I'd think might happen would be some diversion program. I'm looking at one part of California law and forwarding money that's been pledged would seem to apply. Intent is a clearly a factor in conviction. It really depends on what evidence exists to establish that Ohtani knew the debts were due to illegal bets.
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Post by BearClause on Mar 24, 2024 19:36:54 GMT -5
I'm not sure if knowledge that it was illegal would preclude charging anyone with a crime. But at the very least, the law does look like it might apply to Ohtani. I can't imaging he'd be convicted and sentenced to jail for just paying off a friend's debts. The most I'd think might happen would be some diversion program. I'm looking at one part of California law and forwarding money that's been pledged would seem to apply. Intent is a clearly a factor in conviction. It really depends on what evidence exists to establish that Ohtani knew the debts were due to illegal bets. By its very nature, sports betting is illegal in California. Sure I would imagine that intent would be carefully considered by any prosecutor. It's also considered a misdemeanor in California since the maximum penalty is under a year. And then there's who would be allowed to prosecute based on where the alleged crime took place. I suppose it would be where he was physically at the time where the alledged wire was made. I suppose it could be in Orange County or Los Angeles County. Possibly on the road. If it was in the city of Los Angeles, misdemeanors are prosecuted by the city but felonies are prosecuted by the District Attorney.
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Post by volleyguy on Mar 24, 2024 19:48:40 GMT -5
Intent is a clearly a factor in conviction. It really depends on what evidence exists to establish that Ohtani knew the debts were due to illegal bets. By its very nature, sports betting is illegal in California. Sure I would imagine that intent would be carefully considered by any prosecutor. It's also considered a misdemeanor in California since the maximum penalty is under a year. And then there's who would be allowed to prosecute based on where the alleged crime took place. I suppose it would be where he was physically at the time where the alledged wire was made. I suppose it could be in Orange County or Los Angeles County. Possibly on the road. If it was in the city of Los Angeles, misdemeanors are prosecuted by the city but felonies are prosecuted by the District Attorney. There's the old saying that a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Whether that were to happen depends on whether there's evidence to estblish how much Ohtani knew and understood about the nature of the debt and the betting.
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Post by BearClause on Mar 24, 2024 20:20:23 GMT -5
By its very nature, sports betting is illegal in California. Sure I would imagine that intent would be carefully considered by any prosecutor. It's also considered a misdemeanor in California since the maximum penalty is under a year. And then there's who would be allowed to prosecute based on where the alleged crime took place. I suppose it would be where he was physically at the time where the alledged wire was made. I suppose it could be in Orange County or Los Angeles County. Possibly on the road. If it was in the city of Los Angeles, misdemeanors are prosecuted by the city but felonies are prosecuted by the District Attorney. There's the old saying that a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Whether that were to happen depends on whether there's evidence to estblish how much Ohtani knew and understood about the nature of the debt and the betting. Sure. I get that there are some things where they're not going to bother prosecuting, like people putting $5 each in a NCAA Tournament pool. That's technically illegal under California law. Even fantasy sports might qualify.
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Post by ironhammer on Mar 24, 2024 21:13:20 GMT -5
There's the old saying that a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Whether that were to happen depends on whether there's evidence to estblish how much Ohtani knew and understood about the nature of the debt and the betting. Sure. I get that there are some things where they're not going to bother prosecuting, like people putting $5 each in a NCAA Tournament pool. That's technically illegal under California law. Even fantasy sports might qualify. Heck, jaywalking is illegal in most US jurisdictions (and most places in the world for that matter), but the chances of you getting prosecuted for it are pretty low...unless you are unlucky enough to be caught by the police who happened to be nearby.
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Post by BearClause on Mar 24, 2024 21:17:01 GMT -5
The plot thickens. UC Riverside is claiming that they have no records of Mizuhara ever being a student.
Also that he claimed to have worked as an interpreter for the Boston Red Sox, which they say never happened.
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Post by BearClause on Mar 24, 2024 21:22:42 GMT -5
Sure. I get that there are some things where they're not going to bother prosecuting, like people putting $5 each in a NCAA Tournament pool. That's technically illegal under California law. Even fantasy sports might qualify. Heck, jaywalking is illegal in most US jurisdictions (and most places in the world for that matter), but the chances of you getting prosecuted for it are pretty low...unless you are unlucky enough to be caught by the police who happened to be nearby. Been there, done that. I've never gotten a jaywalking ticket though. I was going home when I thought I saw someone jaywalking (across a freeway onramp) who looked like a coworker. The next day I was having lunch with the guy I thought I saw, and he noted that he was cited by the California Highway Patrol for jaywalking.
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Post by akbar on Mar 24, 2024 21:24:39 GMT -5
George Santos has contacted the Los Angeles Dodgers organization to offer to become Ohtani's new interpreter.
Apparently George speaks fluent Japanese.
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Post by mikegarrison on Mar 24, 2024 22:15:28 GMT -5
George Santos has contacted the Los Angeles Dodgers organization to offer to become Ohtani's new interpreter. Apparently George speaks fluent Japanese. He learned it when he played volleyball for the Japanese National Team.
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Post by BearClause on Apr 11, 2024 19:09:48 GMT -5
The interpreter has been charged by the USAO. www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/japanese-language-translator-charged-complaint-illegally-transferring-more-16-millionThursday, April 11, 2024 For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California LOS ANGELES – A Japanese-language translator was charged today via federal criminal complaint with unlawfully transferring more than $16 million from a Major League Baseball (MLB) player’s bank account – without the player’s knowledge or permission – to pay off his own substantial gambling debts incurred with an illegal bookmaking operation. Ippei Mizuhara, 39, of Newport Beach, is charged with bank fraud, a felony offense that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. Mizuhara is expected to appear in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles for his initial appearance in the near future. According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, from November 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara wired more than $16 million in unauthorized transfers from a checking account belong to an MLB player identified in the affidavit as “Victim A,” who in fact is MLB star Shohei Ohtani. The transfers from this bank account allegedly were made from devices and IP addresses associated with Mizuhara, who served as Ohtani’s translator and de facto manager. In 2018, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani, who didn’t speak English, to a bank branch in Arizona to assist Ohtani in opening the account and translated for Ohtani when setting up the account details. Ohtani’s salary from playing professional baseball was deposited into this account and he never gave Mizuhara control of this or any of his other financial accounts, according to the affidavit. Mizuhara allegedly told Ohtani’s U.S.-based financial professionals, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani denied them access to the account. In September 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book and, several months later, started losing substantial sums of money, the affidavit states. During this time, the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account allegedly was changed to link the account to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address connected to Mizuhara. Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation. From January 2024 to March 2024, he also allegedly used this same account to purchase via eBay and Whatnot approximately 1,000 baseball cards – at a cost of approximately $325,000 – and had them mailed to Mizuhara under an alias, “Jay Min,” and mailed to the clubhouse for Ohtani’s current MLB team. In an interview last week with law enforcement, Ohtani denied authorizing Mizuhara’s wire transfers. Ohtani provided his cellphone to law enforcement, who determined that there was no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts.
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Post by mikegarrison on Apr 11, 2024 19:57:35 GMT -5
Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation. From January 2024 to March 2024, he also allegedly used this same account to purchase via eBay and Whatnot approximately 1,000 baseball cards – at a cost of approximately $325,000 – and had them mailed to Mizuhara under an alias, “Jay Min,” and mailed to the clubhouse for Ohtani’s current MLB team. In an interview last week with law enforcement, Ohtani denied authorizing Mizuhara’s wire transfers. Ohtani provided his cellphone to law enforcement, who determined that there was no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts. Well, this certainly does put a different spin on things. While before it looked like it was probably a case of Mizuhara being the fall guy for Ohtani, now it seems much more like embezzlement and taking advantage of Ohtani's trust. It was hard to believe that Ohtani authorized Mizuhara to just withdraw millions of dollars from his account, but if Mizuhara set up the account for him in the first place, then of course he would have all the account information he needed to draw on it.
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Post by BearClause on Apr 11, 2024 21:05:18 GMT -5
Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation. From January 2024 to March 2024, he also allegedly used this same account to purchase via eBay and Whatnot approximately 1,000 baseball cards – at a cost of approximately $325,000 – and had them mailed to Mizuhara under an alias, “Jay Min,” and mailed to the clubhouse for Ohtani’s current MLB team. In an interview last week with law enforcement, Ohtani denied authorizing Mizuhara’s wire transfers. Ohtani provided his cellphone to law enforcement, who determined that there was no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts. Well, this certainly does put a different spin on things. While before it looked like it was probably a case of Mizuhara being the fall guy for Ohtani, now it seems much more like embezzlement and taking advantage of Ohtani's trust. I was thinking that Ohtani covering for Mizuhara’s losses (and then backtracking when told that was illegal) sounded most likely. But the feds likely got things like recordings when the wires were verified along with subpoenaing phone and internet records. Of course a ton of this sounds strange, such as how Ohtani wouldn’t notice he’s missing $16 million, but it might make sense if he never touched those accounts. Most of his money was made in Japan and I suppose he could have been more familiar with using Japanese financial transaction.
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Post by oldnewbie on Apr 11, 2024 22:13:04 GMT -5
Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation. From January 2024 to March 2024, he also allegedly used this same account to purchase via eBay and Whatnot approximately 1,000 baseball cards – at a cost of approximately $325,000 – and had them mailed to Mizuhara under an alias, “Jay Min,” and mailed to the clubhouse for Ohtani’s current MLB team. In an interview last week with law enforcement, Ohtani denied authorizing Mizuhara’s wire transfers. Ohtani provided his cellphone to law enforcement, who determined that there was no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts. Well, this certainly does put a different spin on things. While before it looked like it was probably a case of Mizuhara being the fall guy for Ohtani, now it seems much more like embezzlement and taking advantage of Ohtani's trust. It was hard to believe that Ohtani authorized Mizuhara to just withdraw millions of dollars from his account, but if Mizuhara set up the account for him in the first place, then of course he would have all the account information he needed to draw on it. All I know is that Ohtani is the victim, and 100% innocent of any association with gambling or gamblers. I know that for a fact, because he just went 11 for 22 with 8 extra base hits over 5 games. As a Dodgers fan, that is all the proof I need of his innocence. Now everybody move along. Nothing to see here. (Yes, I suffer from Ohtani derangement syndrome)
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Post by ironhammer on Apr 11, 2024 23:07:36 GMT -5
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