The Athletic reports that Federal prosecutors released a four-minute audio recording which they said showed Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter convicted of defrauding Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, attempting to push through a $200,000 wire transfer from one of the player’s accounts.
The recording which was released by the bank to prosecutors and then to The Athletic, shows how the impersonator repeatedly called the bank to arrange wire transfers, having bypassed security measures by routing Ohtani’s online account information to his own email and phone number.
Ippei was the translator for Ohtani so he had insider access to the star.
A Fascinating Call Revealing How Banks Target Fraud And Scams
The audio recording provides a behind the scenes look into the fraud, but also reveals how banks are increasingly combatting scams by asking more details about wire transfers before sending them out.
Listen to the audio recording here. It’s well worth it.
