Shohei Ohtani's fraud case with Ippei Mizuhara gains another layer with baseball card drama

During the Dodgers' Opening Weekend in Seoul this past season, the reveal that Shohei Ohtani's longtime friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara had stolen millions of dollars from the team's new superstar completely turned attentions away from the games at hand.

For a quick refresher, Mizuhara reportedly stole upwards of $16 million from Ohtani in order to feed a gambling addiction. He incurred a negative balance of $40.7 million betting on pretty much every sport that wasn't baseball under the purview of bookmaker Mathew Boyer. In an absolutely wild, 37-page complaint filed by the US Department of Justice, texts from Mizuhara featured frequent begging for "bumps" in credit, a cut-and-dry confession, and explanations as to how he managed to hide it all from Ohtani.

Any suspicion directed towards Ohtani throughout the ordeal quickly vanished and his reputation remained intact. Mizuhara was formally indicted and is awaiting sentencing.

It wasn't just betting that Mizuhara stole money for, though. He also reportedly spent $325,000 on baseball cards of Ohtani, Yogi Berra, and Juan Soto, among others. On Nov. 27, Ohtani petitioned a federal judge for possession of those cards, as they were bought using his money. About a week later, court filings revealed he would indeed be assuming ownership.

Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani set to recover $325,000 worth of baseball cards from Ippei Mizuhara

This entire affair has been ridiculous pretty much from start to finish, even if it did cast a pall over Ohtani for a time right at the beginning of the season due to some admittedly fishy mismanagement of the situation from Ohtani's camp. However, while jokes and memes about Mizuhara just being Ohtani's fall guy are still out there, it became quickly evident that Ohtani really just had been duped, even with Mizuhara's stunning incompetence throughout.

New details reveal that Mizuhara bought the cards with intention of reselling them, and at least three separate boxes filled with them were seized.

A formal hearing was scheduled for Dec. 20, but Ohtani will get the cards back without one. Mizuhara's sentencing has been pushed back a few times but is currently scheduled for Jan. 24, when he could face up to 33 years in federal prison.