The lawyers representing the federal authorities have asked the court to postpone its hearing in the case of a former translator of Shohei Ohtani, a highly famous Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team player. The interpreter will be charged with fraud of millions of dollars. Our demand to postpone the arraignment has been made in the U. S. District Court for Central California, and U. S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada has approved it. The new date of arraignment will be 14th May.
It is Mizuhara who is the interpreter who was accused of using $16 million to pay off gambling debts and was officially charged on March 20th. Nevertheless, Michael Freedman, Mizuhara’s attorney, has made a motion to delay the trial, and it is awaiting court approval.
On April 12, Mizuhara finally gave himself to the authorities and is now facing bank fraud charges. The inquiry is victim-centered, with Ohtani being the leading player who said his former interpreter deceived him.
Besides, there is news about Shohei Ohtani’s situation playing a major role in Major League Baseball (MLB). The May 6th statement from MLB Commissioner Bob Manfred is that they will not conduct their investigation in the Ohtani case. Alternatively, they will let the criminal process go without MLB’s influence. Manfred emphasized law enforcement handling such problems compared to those available to the MLB. This indicates that MLB can refrain from intervening in this case.
According to the gambling news, Mizuhara’s scuffle with the law is a part of the wider investigation of California’s state concerning illegal sports betting. As mentioned in court documents, Mizuhara was determined as an offender in more than 19.000 illegal bets at sports events from the years 2021 until 2024. These bets were made through a sports bookmaker who was somehow affiliated with the Wayne Nix gambling syndicate and had its jurisdiction in Orange County, where sports betting is illegal.
It coincides with another case concerning the actions of the same group that was involved in illegal gambling. Scott Sibella, who had previously served as president of Resorts World and worked for MGM Grand, is expected to be sentenced immediately following Mizuhara’s court appearance.
Sibella admitted to a lack of reporting, pointing to the fact that Nix was allowed to carry out his illegal gambling inside the MGM premises. He could receive up to 5 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine; the U.S. Probation Office had recommended a more lenient punishment of at least one year of probation and a penalty that exceeded the fine.
These events underscore the ongoing efforts of law enforcement agencies to suppress illegal gambling matters, as the complex legal boundaries prevent individuals from the sporting and entertainment industries from becoming beneficiaries of these activities. In the days leading up to the hearings, the announcement of the verdicts will be highly anticipated, especially given its potential effect on those implicated.