Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has asked a federal judge for possession of baseball cards worth $325,000 that he says were fraudulently purchased by his former interpreter. .
Ohtani asked a California federal judge Tuesday for a hearing to regain ownership of sports cards seized from out of nearly $17 million in a massive scandal that dominated the weeks leading up to the season last spring.
Between January and March 2024, according to the report, Mizuhara purchased baseball cards online with the intention of reselling them. Ohtani said they were bought with his money and he wanted those back from authorities who seized the cards during Mizuhara’s arrest. Ohtani also requested “a quantity of personally signed collectible baseball cards” with his image on the back that were in Misuhara’s possession when they were seized by authorities.
to pay off its sports betting debts earlier this year. He is . He is due back in court in January for sentencing. He has been Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and also acted as financial manager when Ohtani moved to the United States in 2018.
Mizuhara made an average of about 25 bets per day, with an average wager of $12,800 from December 2021 to January 2024, prosecutors said. He lost a total of about $40.7 million. Gaining access to Ohtani’s bank accounts, Mizuhara stole millions in an attempt to repay this debt. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara earlier this year, and . He cooperated with investigators and insisted he had never bet on any sport and did not know Mizuhara was stealing from him.
earlier this fall. also awarded after the season, although he did not pitch once while recovering from elbow surgery he underwent at the end of his time with the Los Angeles Angels. As a full-time infielder for the Dodgers, Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. Ohtani is expected to return to the mound next season.
