Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani claimed in court papers this week that his former interpreter is in “wrongful possession” of valuable baseball cards that rightfully belong to him.
Ohtani is seeking to recover $325,000 worth of baseball cards that he claims onetime 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 the interpreter’s massive gambling habit, authorities said.
Some of those stolen funds were used on collectibles, Ohtani and his lawyer said in a federal court filing on Tuesday.
“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,” the plaintiffs said.
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,” Ohtani’s legal team said.
An attorney for Mizuhara, who is scheduled to be sentenced in January, could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
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.
Americans can now legally wager on sports in 38 states and the District of Columbia.
Sports betting is not legal in California, and MLB players and team employees are strictly prohibited from wagering on their sport.
