The audio of Ippei Mizuhara’s telephone name with the financial institution wherein he impersonated Los Angeles star Shohei Ohtani to switch himself $200,000 has been obtained and launched by The Athletic.
Within the practically four-minute audio recording, Mizuhara identifies himself as “Shohei Ohtani,” after which says he must make a $200,000 switch. With a purpose to full the two-factor authentication, Mizuhara learn a six-digit code that was despatched to a telephone quantity that matches Mizuhara’s.
After asking to make the switch, the agent tries to make sure there’s no fraud concerned by asking Mizuhara a collection of questions. Right here’s how the dialog went down (click on right here to hearken to the total audio recording obtained by The Athletic):
Agent: “Now not too long ago, we’ve come throughout a development of fraud and scams, so we now have been monitoring the net transactions carefully to ensure our purchasers are usually not the sufferer of both. What’s the motive for this transaction?”
Mizuhara: “It’s for a automotive mortgage.”
Agent: “What’s your relationship to the payee?”
Mizuhara: “Uh, He’s my buddy.”
Agent: “Have you ever met your buddy in individual?”
Mizuhara: “Sure, many occasions.”
The agent then requested how he went about getting the knowledge for the wire switch.
Mizuhara: “Uh, he emailed it to me.”
Agent: “Will there be any future wires to your buddy?”
Mizuhara: “Uh, presumably.”
On Thursday, federal prosecutors requested for restitution of $16.9 million to Ohtani and one other $1.1 million to the IRS. They’re searching for a 57-month jail sentence for Mizuhara.
Mizuhara was charged with financial institution fraud for stealing from Ohtani. He positioned roughly 19,000 wagers over a two-year span and accrued nicely over $100 million in losses.
Mizuhara was fired from the whereas the crew was in Korea throughout final season’s common season opener.
In Ohtani’s first public statements relating to the scenario final month, he made it identified his former interpreter stole from him.
“I’ve by no means guess on baseball or some other sports activities or requested somebody to do it on my behalf,” Ohtani mentioned. “I’ve by no means requested a bookmaker to do it on my behalf. Up till a number of days in the past, I didn’t know this was taking place. In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing cash from my account and has instructed lies.”
