Audio Recording of Ippei Mizuhara Impersonating Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani in Call With Bank Released
The audio of Ippei Mizuhara’s phone call with the bank in which he impersonated Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani to transfer himself $200,000 has been obtained and released by The Athletic.
In the nearly four-minute audio recording, Mizuhara identifies himself as “Shohei Ohtani,” and then says he needs to make a $200,000 transfer. In order to complete the two-factor authentication, Mizuhara read a six-digit code that was sent to a phone number that matches Mizuhara’s.
After asking to make the transfer, the agent tries to ensure there’s no fraud involved by asking Mizuhara a series of questions. Here’s how the conversation went down (click here to listen to the full audio recording obtained by The Athletic):
Agent: “Now recently, we’ve come across a trend of fraud and scams, so we have been monitoring the online transactions closely to make sure our clients are not the victim of either. What is the reason for this transaction?”
Mizuhara: “It’s for a car loan.”
Agent: “What is your relationship to the payee?”
Mizuhara: “Uh, He’s my friend.”
Agent: “Have you met your friend in person?”
Mizuhara: “Yes, many times.”
The agent then asked how he went about getting the information for the wire transfer.
Mizuhara: “Uh, he emailed it to me.”
Agent: “Will there be any future wires to your friend?”
Mizuhara: “Uh, possibly.”
On Thursday, federal prosecutors asked for restitution of $16.9 million to Ohtani and another $1.1 million to the IRS. They are seeking a 57-month prison sentence for Mizuhara.
Mizuhara was charged with bank fraud for stealing from Ohtani. He placed approximately 19,000 wagers over a two-year span and accumulated well over $100 million in losses.
Mizuhara was fired from the Dodgers while the team was in Korea during last season’s regular season opener.
In Ohtani’s first public statements regarding the situation last month, he made it known his former interpreter stole from him.
“I’ve never bet on baseball or any other sports or asked someone to do it on my behalf,” Ohtani said. “I’ve never asked a bookmaker to do it on my behalf. Up until a few days ago, I didn’t know this was happening. In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”
