Shohei Ohtani: Interpreter Bought Cards with His Money

Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani made a significant claim in court papers this week. He stated that his former interpreter is in "wrongful possession" of valuable baseball cards that rightfully belong to him. This claim has sparked a legal battle and raised questions about the ownership and handling of these collectibles.

Shohei Ohtani's Battle for His Baseball Cards

Claim and Legal Proceedings

Ohtani is seeking to recover $325,000 worth of baseball cards that he claims one-time assistant Ippei Mizuhara improperly bought earlier this year. According to a U.S. district court filing by the player and his attorney, Blair Berk, Mizuhara has previously pleaded guilty to illegally transferring $17 million out of Ohtani's account to fund his massive gambling habit. Some of those stolen funds were used on collectibles.In a federal court filing on Tuesday, Ohtani and his lawyer said, "Between January and March 2024, Defendant purchased approximately $325,000 worth of baseball cards at online resellers eBay and Whatnot, with payments drawn on Petitioner's bank account." Additionally, Mizuhara also has "a quantity of personally signed collectible baseball cards which depict and are the property of Petitioner, and which at the time of their seizure were in the unauthorized and wrongful possession of Defendant."

Implications and Legal Battle

An attorney for Mizuhara, who is scheduled to be sentenced in January, could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday. The news of Mizuhara's involvement with sports betting first broke in late March as the Dodgers opened their 2024 regular season in Seoul. Ohtani has denied ever betting on sports, and no law enforcement agency has ever accused him of it.If the Mizuhara scandal distracted Ohtani at all, that inconvenience didn't last long. The $700 million player went on to win the National League MVP award while leading his Dodgers to their first full-season World Series title since 1988. In the United States, Americans can now legally wager on sports in 38 states and the District of Columbia. However, sports betting is not legal in California, and MLB players and team employees are strictly prohibited from wagering on their sport.