(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani now faces federal charges over allegations he stole millions from MLB’s highest-paid player in a gambling scheme, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Ippei Mizuhara has been charged with bank fraud for allegedly stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani to “finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said during a press briefing.
Estrada claimed Mizuhara committed fraud on a “massive scale” to “plunder” Ohtani’s bank account to pay for his gambling debts.
Mizuhara had helped Ohtani, who did not speak or understand English, set up his bank account in 2018 in Arizona and “used that familiarity” to later steal the funds from Ohtani to help pay for illegal sports bets, the DOJ alleged. He is accused of wiring more than $16 million in unauthorized transfers from Ohtani’s checking account from November 2021 to January 2024, the DOJ said. He is also accused of impersonating Ohtani over the phone with the bank to approve wire transfers to the bookmakers, the DOJ said.
Estrada stressed that Ohtani is considered a victim in the case and has cooperated “fully and completely” in the investigation.
“There is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Ohtani authorized the over $16 million of transfers from his account to the bookmakers,” Estrada said.
Any winnings were deposited in Mizuhara’s own personal bank account, not any account owned by Ohtani, and the ex-interpreter allegedly admitted to a bookmaker to stealing from Ohtani, according to Estrada. Ohtani also provided his cellphone to investigators, who did not find any evidence to suggest that he was aware of or involved in the illegal gambling activity, the DOJ said.
“Our investigation has revealed that due to the position of trust that he occupied with Mr. Ohtani, Mr. Mizuhara had unique access to Mr. Ohtani’s finances,” Estrada said. “Mr. Mizuhara used and abused that position of trust in order to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani.”
Bank fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, Estrada said.
Mizuhara is expected to appear in the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming days. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
The federal investigation is being conducted by the Los Angeles offices of IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, the main investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Dodgers announced they had fired the Japanese interpreter on March 20, after the gambling controversy surfaced. The team did not provide a specific reason for Mizuhara’s termination.
Ohtani addressed the scandal for the first time on March 25 during a press conference. In a prepared statement, Ohtani said through an interpreter, “I am very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.”
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports,” Ohtani continued. “I never asked somebody to do that on my behalf and I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
The 29-year-old pitching and hitting star, who signed a $700 million deal in the offseason to join the Dodgers, claimed he did not know about Mizuhara’s gambling until after a Dodgers game in Korea the prior week.
“Up until a couple days ago, I didn’t even know that this was happening,” he said at the time.
Mizuhara had worked with the Dodgers as Ohtani’s interpreter after serving in the same capacity with the Angels. Ohtani and Mizuhara’s relationship dates back to 2013, when Ohtani played for the Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League and Mizuhara was an interpreter for the team.
Ohtani has been playing for the Dodgers throughout the scandal, batting .333 with three home runs and eight RBIs for National League-leading Los Angeles. He is not pitching this season as he recovers from elbow surgery.
MLB announced it was investigating the situation last month, two days after the Dodgers fired Mizuhara.
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Matthew Perry died in October, but his legacy lives on in Chandler Bing.
The sarcastic Friend is apparently the most popular TV character based on Google search data for 12 months crunched by the website NoDeposit365.co.uk: According to their numbers, there are more than 320,000 monthly searches for Chandler, proving no, he cannot be any more popular in the eyes of TV watchers.
Second comes Bart Simpson with 291,000 monthly searches, and his dad, The Simpsons patriarch Homer, ranked third with 289,333.
Peter Griffin, the dad from Family Guy, ranked close behind at fourth, with 286,548 searches every month for the father from Quahog.
Stan Marsh from South Park rounded out the top five with 252,167 monthly searches, but his animated friends also fared well: Kenny McCormick and Kyle Broflovski ranked #9 and #10, with 190,292 and 182,883 monthly searches, respectively.
What, no love for Cartman?
Methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
Taylor Swift was one of the many artists whose music became unavailable on TikTok in February due to a dispute between the social media app and Universal Music Group. But now, according to published reports, Taylor’s music is back on TikTok, just in time for the release of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Songs by Taylor, Lady Gaga, Drake, Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Olivia Rodrigo and other top artists were pulled off the app by Universal Music Group, which distributes the music. UMG said that it couldn’t come to terms with TikTok when it came to “appropriate compensation” for the artists, as well as online safety and protecting artists’ careers from being harmed by AI.
Variety speculates that Taylor’s music may be an exception because she owns her publishing and her masters, and that she may have made a separate deal with TikTok in order to promote The Tortured Poets Department, which is coming out April 19. When Midnights was released in 2022, Taylor provided TikTok with exclusive video content; perhaps she’s looking to do something similar this time around.
Jethro Tull’s first live album, Bursting Out, is getting reissued with a whole host of extras for fans.
Originally released in September 1978 as a double album, Bursting Out was recorded during the band’s Heavy Horses European tour, featuring performances from shows that took place in May and June of that year.
The reissue, Bursting Out (The Inflated Edition), will be released as an expanded three-CD/three-DVD set, remixed by Steven Wilson. It will feature previously unreleased performances, a CD of an edited version of a 1978 Madison Square Garden show, previously released in 2009, and a DVD of the full MSG show, with over 50 minutes of video that was previously broadcast on the BBC and Radio 1.
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson says the album “serves as a fine testimony for the many wonderful shows we did in the 70s before general touring fatigue and burn-out began a year or so later,” adding, “Enjoy vintage Tull at its ’70s best!”
Bursting Out (The Inflated Edition) will be released June 21. It is available for preorder now.
(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani now faces federal charges over allegations he stole millions from MLB’s highest-paid player in a gambling scheme, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Ippei Mizuhara has been charged with bank fraud for allegedly stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani to “finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said during a press briefing.
The federal investigation is being conducted by the Los Angeles offices of IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, the main investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Dodgers announced it had fired the Japanese interpreter on March 20, after the gambling controversy surfaced. The team did not provide a specific reason for Mizuhara’s termination.
Ohtani addressed the scandal for the first time on March 25 during a press conference. In a prepared statement, Ohtani said through an interpreter, “I am very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.”
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports,” Ohtani continued. “I never asked somebody to do that on my behalf and I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
The 29-year-old pitching and hitting star, who signed a $700 million deal in the offseason to join the Dodgers, claimed he did not know about Mizuhara’s gambling until after a Dodgers game in Korea the prior week.
“Up until a couple days ago, I didn’t even know that this was happening,” he said at the time.
Mizuhara had worked with the Dodgers as Ohtani’s interpreter after serving in the same capacity with the Angels. Ohtani and Mizuhara’s relationship dates back to 2013, when Ohtani played for the Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League and Mizuhara was an interpreter for the team.
MLB announced it was investigating the situation last month, two days after the Dodgers fired Mizuhara.
(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign says it has ended its contract with a consultant who was seen on video encouraging people to vote for him in order to get “rid of Biden” even if that means electing former President Donald Trump.
Campaign manager Amaryllis Fox announced the decision in a post on X in response to a Kennedy supporter asking for the campaign to distance itself from the consultant, Rita Palma.
Video of Palma’s comments had energized Democrats online as they said it confirmed their accusations that the purpose of Kennedy’s campaign is to hand the White House back to Trump over President Joe Biden. Kennedy rejects that.
“We terminated her contract for misrepresentation immediately upon seeing the longer video in which she gave an inaccurate job title and described a conversation that did not happen,” Fox wrote on X, referring to Palma.
While speaking to a crowd in New York on Friday at an event unaffiliated with the campaign, Palma falsely identified herself as the campaign’s New York state director, according to the Kennedy campaign and the video of Palma’s comments that circulated online.
Recent Stories from ABC News “My time with Team Kennedy has been one of the best political adventures of my life filled with some of the best people I’ve encountered, and i have encountered many,” Palma told ABC News via text message after she was terminated.
“I hold no ill will and look forward to the next seven months of watching Bobby shine,” Palma wrote.
She did not respond to a question about why she identified herself as the campaign’s New York state director.
PHOTO: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station on March 30, 2024 in Los Angeles. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Ch…Show more Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE Kennedy’s team had already been pushing back on Palma’s comments in the video, which has been shared by Democratic operatives on social media and elsewhere.
At the Friday event, Palma told Kennedy supporters that backing him in New York, even if Trump ultimately won the White House, made sure “we’re rid of Biden either way.”
“Why wouldn’t we put our vote to Bobby and at least get rid of Biden and get those 28 electoral votes in New York … to Bobby rather than to Biden, thereby reducing Biden’s 270?” Palma said in the video. “And we all know all that works, right — 270 wins the election. If you don’t get to 270, if nobody gets to 270, then Congress picks the president, right?
“Who are they going to pick if it’s a Republican Congress? They’ll pick Trump,” Palma said in the video. “So we’re rid of Biden either way.”
Kennedy’s campaign manager told ABC News earlier this week that she had spoken to Palma on Monday and determined she was “operating as a private citizen” at a “health freedom event.”
“She definitely does not speak on behalf of the campaign,” Fox said. “She’s never been to one of our strategy meetings or any kind of leadership meeting on electoral strategy in New York or nationally.”
(NEW YORK) — Consumers saddled with high credit card and mortgage rates held onto a source of solace in recent months: A forecast from the Federal Reserve promising long-awaited interest rate cuts.
The economy has refused to cooperate, however, casting that financial relief into doubt.
Fresh price data released on Wednesday marked the third consecutive month of firmer-than-expected inflation; while a blockbuster jobs report last week revealed that employers are hiring with gusto.
The hot economy casts doubt over interest rate cuts, likely delaying their widely anticipated start this summer and possibly removing them entirely from the Fed’s calendar this year, some economists told ABC News, while acknowledging that multiple rate cuts remain within the realm of possibility.
“The future is uncertain — I wouldn’t bet the farm,” Joseph Gagnon, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former Federal Reserve official, told ABC News. “You might get no cuts this year or you might get three or four cuts.”
In December, when the Fed announced plans for eventual rate cuts, prices were cooling steadily amid robust economic growth. The trend elicited a burst of optimism about the chances for a “soft landing,” in which inflation returns to normal while the economy avoids a recession.
Price increases have cooled dramatically from a peak of about 9%, but inflation has stalled in recent months, hovering more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Meanwhile, the economy has continued to run hot. Breakneck hiring and robust economic growth have rebuked fears of a recession.
That combination of elevated inflation and economic fortitude offers the Fed an opportunity to hold rates steady at highly elevated levels, since the central bank runs little immediate risk of triggering a downturn, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week, before the latest inflation reading.
“On inflation, it’s too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump,” Powell told a business conference at Stanford University.
“Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy,” Powell added.
The Fed Funds rate remains between 5.25% and 5.5%, matching its highest level since 2001.
Interest rate cuts would lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, potentially triggering a burst of economic activity through greater household spending and company investment.
But the Fed risks a rebound of inflation if it cuts interest rates too quickly, since stronger consumer demand on top of solid economic activity could lead to an acceleration of price increases.
At the outset of this year, many economists and traders expected interest rate cuts to begin in June. However, the cautious approach from the Fed has largely nixed expectations of a rate cut in the coming months.
“At this point, a June rate cut seems to be out of the picture,” Yeva Nersisyan, a professor of economics at Franklin & Marshall College, told ABC News. “The Fed is signaling that it doesn’t want to lower rates.”
Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at eToro, agreed. The latest higher-than-expected inflation reading delivered a “blow” to plans for a rate cut in June, he told ABC News in a statement.
“There’s growing uncertainty about when the first cut of 2024 will come,” he added.
Some economists said they doubt whether an interest rate cut would happen this year at all. Persistently elevated inflation could push the Fed to abandon its forecast of lower rates, they said, while a commitment to political neutrality may foreclose a move ahead of the November election.
“There is likely sufficient caution within the Fed now to mean that a July cut may also be a stretch, by which point the US election will begin to intrude with Fed decision making,” Seema Shah, chief global strategist for principal asset management at investment firm Edelman Smithfield, told ABC News in a statement.
Still, some observers have retained expectations of a rate this summer, citing progress made in the Fed’s inflation fight over the past two years. In a note to clients obtained by ABC News, Bank of America said it still predicts a rate cut in June.
The firm, however, acknowledged the threat posed by the latest inflation data, saying it “points to significant risk of a delay to the start of Fed easing.”
(LONDON) — A new report commissioned by the National Health Service England advocates for further research on gender-affirming care for transgender youth and young adults.
Dr. Hillary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, was appointed by NHS England and NHS Improvement to chair the Independent Review of Gender Identity Services in 2020 amid a rise in referrals to NHS’ gender services. Upon review, she advises “extreme caution” for the use of hormone therapies.
“It is absolutely right that children and young people, who may be dealing with a complex range of issues around their gender identity, get the best possible support and expertise throughout their care,” Cass states in the report.
Around 2022, about 5,000 adolescents and children were referred to the NHS’ gender services. The report estimated that roughly 20% of children and young people seen by the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) enter a hormone pathway — roughly 1,000 people under 18 in England.
Following four years of data analysis, Cass concluded that “while a considerable amount of research has been published in this field, systematic evidence reviews demonstrated the poor quality of the published studies, meaning there is not a reliable evidence base upon which to make clinical decisions, or for children and their families to make informed choices.”
Cass continued: “The strengths and weaknesses of the evidence base on the care of children and young people are often misrepresented and overstated, both in scientific publications and social debate,” read the report.
Among her recommendations, she urged the NHS to increase the available workforce in this field, to work on setting up more regional outlets for care, increase investment in research on this care, and improve the quality of care to meet international guidelines.
Cass’ review comes as the NHS continues to expand its children and young people’s gender identity services across the country. The NHS has recently opened new children and young people’s gender services based in London and the Northwest.
NHS England, the country’s universal healthcare system, said the report is expected to guide and shape its use of gender affirming care in children and potentially impact youth patients in England accessing gender-affirming care.
The debate over transgender youth care In an interview with The Guardian, Cass stated that her findings are not intended to undermine the validity of trans identities or challenge young people’s right to transition but to improve the care they are receiving.
“We’ve let them down because the research isn’t good enough and we haven’t got good data,” Cass told the news outlet. “The toxicity of the debate is perpetuated by adults, and that itself is unfair to the children who are caught in the middle of it. The children are being used as a football and this is a group that we should be showing more compassion to.”
In the report, Cass argued that the knowledge and expertise of “experienced clinicians who have reached different conclusions about the best approach to care” has been “dismissed and invalidated” amid arguments concerning transgender care in youth.
Cass did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Recommendations for trans youth care Cass is calling for more thorough research that looks at the “characteristics, interventions and outcomes” of NHS gender service patients concerning puberty blockers and hormone therapy, particularly among children and adolescents.
The report’s recommendations also urge caregivers to take an approach to care that considers young patients “holistically and not solely in terms of their gender-related distress.”
The report notes that identity exploration is “a completely natural process during childhood and adolescence.”
Cass recommends that pre-pubertal children and their families have early discussions about how parents can best support their child “in a balanced and non-judgemental way,” which may include “psychological and psychopharmacological treatments” to manage distress associated with gender incongruence and co-occurring conditions.
In past interviews, U.S. physicians told ABC News, that patients, their physicians and their families often engage in a lengthy process of building a customized and individualized approach to care, meaning not every patient will receive any or every type of gender-affirming medical care option.
Cass’ report states that evidence particularly for puberty blockers in children and adolescents is “weak” regarding the impact on “gender dysphoria, mental or psychosocial health. The effect on cognitive and psychosexual development remains unknown.”
The NHS has said it will halt routine use of puberty blockers as it prepares for a study into the practice later this year.
According to the Endocrine Society puberty blockers, as opposed to hormone therapy, temporarily pause puberty so patients have more time to explore their gender identity.
The report also recommends “extreme caution” for transgender youth from age 16 who take more permanent hormone therapies.
“There should be a clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18,” the report’s recommendations state.
Hormone therapy, according to the Endocrine Society, triggers physical changes like hair growth, muscle development, body fat and more, that can help better align the body with a person’s gender identity. It’s not unusual for patients to stop hormone therapy and decide that they have transitioned as far as they wish, physicians have told ABC News.
Cass’ report asserts that there are many unknowns about the use of both puberty blockers and hormones for minors, “despite their longstanding use in the adult transgender population.”
“The lack of long-term follow-up data on those commencing treatment at an earlier age means we have inadequate information about the range of outcomes for this group,” the report states.
Cass recommends that NHS England facilities have procedures in place to follow up with 17 to 25-year-old patients “to ensure continuity of care and support at a potentially vulnerable stage in their journey,” as well as allow for further data and research on transgender minors through the years.
Several British medical organizations, including British Psychological Society and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, commended the report’s recommendations to expand the workforce and invest in further research to allow young people to make better informed decisions.
“Dr Cass and her team have produced a thought-provoking, detailed and wide-ranging list of recommendations, which will have implications for all professionals working with gender-questioning children and young people,” said Dr Roman Raczka, of the British Psychological Society. “It will take time to carefully review and respond to the whole report, but I am sure that psychology, as a profession, will reflect and learn lessons from the review, its findings and recommendations.”
Some groups expressed fears that the report will be misused by anti-transgender groups.
“All children have the right to access specialist effective care on time and must be afforded the privacy to make decisions that are appropriate for them in consultation with a specialist,” said human rights group Amnesty International. “This review is being weaponised by people who revel in spreading disinformation and myths about healthcare for trans young people.”
Transgender care for people under 18 has been a source of contention in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Legislation is being pushed across the U.S. by many Republican legislators focused on banning all medical care options like puberty blockers and hormone therapies for minors. Some argue that gender-affirming care is unsafe for youth, or that they should wait until they’re older.
Gender-affirming medical does come with risks, according to the Endocrine Society, including impacts to bone mineral density, cholesterol levels, and blood clot risks. However, physicians have told ABC News that all medications, surgeries or vaccines come with some kind of risk.
Major national medical associations in the U.S., including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and more than 20 others have argued that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial, and medically necessary.
The first-of-its-kind gender care clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland opened in the 1960s, using similar procedures still used today.
Some studies have shown that some gender-affirming options can have positive impacts on the mental health of transgender patients, who may experience gender-related stress.
Collective Soul has premiered a new song called “Mother’s Love,” the first single off the band’s upcoming album, Here to Eternity.
The track features Brian Ray, longtime guitarist for Paul McCartney‘s live band. You can listen to it alongside its accompanying lyric video, streaming now on YouTube.
Here to Eternity, a double album, drops May 17. It was recorded at Elvis Presley‘s estate in Palm Springs, California.
Collective Soul will be on tour starting in May, playing shows with Hootie & the Blowfish and Edwin McCain.
Cast of ‘Melrose Place’ celebrating 100 episodes in 1995 — Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc
The TV nostalgia keeps on rolling: Melrose Place is reportedly becoming the next 1990s show to get a reboot.
ABC Audio has confirmed Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga are all on board for a new chapter of the popular nighttime soap, which was a huge hit for Fox back in the day.
CBS Studios is currently developing a reboot with the stars attached and looking for either a network partner or a streaming service to bring it to screens.
CBS’ Insatiable creator Lauren Gussis is writing the project.
The studio teases, “In the new installment, when one of their dearest friends dies suddenly, the OG residents of Melrose Place gather to honor the deceased. But the pressure cooker of a reunion soon uncovers old traumas, rekindles old romances, reignites old resentments, and reveals new secrets … throwing our characters into chaotic drama that’s reminiscent of the past, but with a much more modern perspective.”
During its run, the Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff was a buzzy guilty pleasure for viewers — in fact, one Seinfeld episode hinged on Jerry not wanting to admit to anyone that he watched it religiously.
Locklear’s work was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama; Leighton was nominated in the supporting role category of the Globes in 1995.
A 2009 revival of the show, in which the trio guested, only lasted one season on the CW.
