A Hand of Fate: The Cards That Will Determine the Future

When we last covered this case, Ippei Mizuhara was going to jail, as he pled guilty to bank fraud and submitting a false tax return this summer. While we have exhaustively covered Mizuhara’s crimes, his sentencing has been moved from December 20th to January 24, 2025. The hearing was originally scheduled for October 25 but continued at Mizuhara’s request, which ironically was Game 1 of the 2024 World Series for the Dodgers.

Not to be lost in the Thanksgiving madness of Blake Snell signing with the Dodgers and Tommy Edman signing to a five-year extension to at least the 2029 season is the legal filing that Shohei Ohtani filed in the Mizuhara case.

One of the details from the government’s plea agreement that was commonly overlooked was on page 14. The government alleged that between January and March 2024, Mizuhara purchased about $325,000 worth of baseball cards from eBay and Whatnot. The government alleged that Mizuhara bought cards featuring Yogi Berra, Juan Soto, and Ohtani to resell them at a profit at a later date.

On September 19, the Court entered a Preliminary Order of Forfeiture that included these baseball cards. On November 1, the government notified Ohtani of the Court’s order. Ohtani argued, in part, that he has a right to this property because Mizuhara purchased the baseball cards with funds he stole from Ohtani.

Ohtani also argued that he personally signed some of the Ohtani baseball cards, which he claimed were his property. Moreover, Ohtani argues that when the government seized these cards from Mizuhara, Ohtani retained a right to possess them, which would be determined by an evidentiary hearing.

At the subsequent hearing, if Ohtani established by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not) that he had a legal right, title, or interest in the identified property, the Court’s order as to the baseball cards would be invalidated because Ohtani had right, title, and/or interest in the property at the time of Mizuhara’s acts that caused the forfeiture of the property.

Considering the staggering amount of wagers and money involved in this case, it might seem silly to seek recovery of about $325,000 of baseball cards. While I do not know firsthand, Ohtani’s motion for a hearing made sense to me.

Based on what is publicly known, these cards are likely the quickest way for Ohtani to recover anything in this case. While Mizuhara has pled guilty and is expected to be sentenced to jail and restitution, the amount of money involved is likely unrecoverable. This fact was likely doubly true with someone like Mizuhara, who has spectacularly destroyed his life through lies and deceit.

Before the publication of this essay, Ohtani’s motion for a hearing became moot.

On Monday, the government conceded to Ohtani’s motion, stating that “Ohtani holds a valid pre-existing interest in Forfeitable Property as title to the Forfeitable Property was vested in Ohtani at the time of the commission of the acts which give rise to the forfeiture,” the government wrote in its filing.” As such, the December 20th hearing is canceled.

In its response to Ohtani’s motion, the government stated that “[o]nce the forfeiture of the defendant’s interest is made final at sentencing, the Government will move for an order amending the Preliminary Order of Forfeiture to reflect Ohtani’s superior interest in the property.”

In plain English, after Mizuhara is sentenced, the government will file an amended Order of Forfeiture with the court listing everything Mizuhara stole but the baseball cards, which everyone concedes are Ohtani’s for the reasons given above.

We will provide a final update once Mizuhara is sentenced to federal prison in January.

Ohtani 50/50 ball has a new home in Taiwan

As we covered in late October, the Ohtani 50/50 home run ball was sold for $4.392 million after fees. While the lawsuits in federal state court are still ongoing, the winning bidder for the ball was UC Capital, a Taiwan-based investment firm. On November 13, Brooks Peck of The Athletic (paywalled) reported that the ball is now on display inside Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan.

The ball has 24-hour security and costs about $150,000. Organizers hoped that the ball’s display would promote baseball in Taiwan and that up to 7,000 visitors would come per day. The exhibition is scheduled to last until March 2, 2025, and costs 420 New Taiwan dollars to attend (about $13 USD).