(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Baltimore Orioles 3, Atlanta Braves 6 Washington Nationals 2, Detroit Tigers 7 Tampa Bay Rays 3, Chicago Cubs 2 Philadelphia Phillies 3, Boston Red Sox 9 Arizona Diamondbacks TBA, Los Angeles Angels TBA Los Angeles Dodgers TBA, Texas Rangers TBA
NATIONAL LEAGUE NY Mets 3, Miami Marlins 2 Pittsburgh Pirates 3, St Louis Cardinals 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE New York Yankees 3, Kansas City Royals 4 Seattle Mariners TBA, Chicago White Sox TBA Oakland Athletics 2, Minnesota Twins 6
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Seattle Storm 92, Dallas Wings 84 Atlanta Dream 84, Indiana Fever 91 Las Vegas Aces TBA, Phoenix Mercury TBA
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Florida Panthers 4, Edmonton Oilers 3
Jerry West #44 of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles the ball up court against the Baltimore Bullets during an NBA basketball game circa 1972 at the Baltimore Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland. West played for the Lakers from 1960-74. (Focus On Sport/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Hall of Fame NBA player and executive Jerry West — who won eight NBA titles as a member of the front office for the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors — died Wednesday, according to ESPN.
West, known as “The Logo” due to his silhouette being used as the NBA logo, was 86 years old.
West, whose teams often came up short against Bill Russell and the Celtics in the ’60s, finally won his only title as a player with the Lakers in 1972. Though his teams often came up short for the title, West won the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 — the first award ever given — despite losing the series.
“Jerry West, the personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him, passed away peacefully this morning at the age of 86. His wife, Karen, was by his side,” the Clippers announced in a statement, according to ESPN.
West has been an executive with the Clippers since 2017.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Baltimore Orioles 4, Atlanta Braves 0 Washington Nationals 5, Detroit Tigers 4 Tampa Bay Rays 5, Chicago Cubs 2 Cleveland Guardians 5, Cincinnati Reds 3 Philadelphia Phillies 4, Boston Red Sox 1 Colorado Rockies 5, Minnesota Twins 4 Toronto Blue Jays 3, Milwaukee Brewers 0 Arizona Diamondbacks 9, Los Angeles Angels 4 San Diego Padres 4, Oakland Athletics 3 Houston Astros 3, San Francisco Giants 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 15, Texas Rangers 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE New York Yankees 10, Kansas City Royals 1 Seattle Mariners 4, Chicago White Sox 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE Miami Marlins 4, New York Mets 2 Pittsburgh Pirates 2, St Louis Cardinals 1
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Washington Mystics 87, Atlanta Dream 68 Seattle Storm 95, Los Angeles Sparks 79 Minnesota Lynx 100, Las Vegas Aces 86
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Minnesota Twins 5, Colorado Rockies 0 Milwaukee Brewers 3, Toronto Blue Jays 1 San Francisco Giants 4, Houston Astros 3 San Diego Padres 6, Oakland Athletics 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore Orioles 5, Tampa Bay Rays 2 Ne York Yankees 4, Kansas City Royals 2 Seattle Mariners 8, Chicago White Sox 4
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE Toronto 6, Baltimore 5 NY Yankees 8, Minnesota 5 Kansas City 4, Cleveland 3 Seattle 3, Oakland 0 Chicago White Sox 2, Boston Red Sox 14
NATIONAL LEAGUE Washington 2, Atlanta 5 LA Dodgers 11, Pittsburgh 7 Arizona TBA, San Diego TBA Cincinnati 8, Chicago Cubs 4 Colorado 3, St Louis 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Dallas Mavericks 89, Boston Celtics 107
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Chicago Sky 79, Washington Mystics 71 New York Liberty 78, Atlanta Dream 61
Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors warms up before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers, March 9, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A Brooklyn man was charged Tuesday in connection with an illegal sports betting scheme involving Jontay Porter, the former Toronto Raptors player who received a lifetime ban from the NBA in April after he bet on his own team to lose.
Porter pretended to be injured before a January game between the Raptors and the Los Angeles Clippers. According to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, Bruce Pham placed bets on Porter’s performance, knowing Porter planned to withdraw from the game.
Porter had amassed large gambling debts to certain of the co-conspirators in the alleged scheme, the complaint says. Porter was encouraged to clear those debts by withdrawing from certain games prematurely to make sure bets on his performance were successful.
Shortly before the January game, prosecutors said Porter told Pham he would be removing himself early from the game, claiming that he was injured. As a result, a co-conspirator won $40,250, according to prosecutors.
“Whether on the court or in the casino, every point matters. As alleged, the defendant and his co-conspirators, as well as an NBA player, participated in a brazen, illegal betting scheme that had a corrupting influence on two games and numerous bets,” said United States Attorney Breon Peace. “This prosecution serves as a warning that fraud and dishonesty in professional sports will not be tolerated and those who engage in this flagrant flouting of the law will be prosecuted.”
Prior to a game on March 20, Pham and his co-conspirators discussed in a Telegram group chat that Porter would be removing himself early from the game, claiming that he felt ill, according to the criminal complaint. Pham and his co-conspirators allegedly met at a casino in Atlantic City and placed several bets on Porter. After playing just three minutes and recording zero points, three rebounds and zero assists, Porter removed himself from the game.
On April 4, in a group chat between Porter and the conspirators, Porter allegedly wrote to the group that they “might just get hit w a rico,” referring to a racketeering charge, and asked if the group chat participants had “delete[d] all the stuff” from their personal cell phones, according to the complaint.
Pham was ordered detained pending trial. Three co-conspirators charged in the scheme remain at large.
(NEW YORK) — Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for MLB star Shohei Ohtani, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges related to stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers player in order to cover gambling debts, according to the Department of Justice.
Mizuhara, 39, agreed to plead guilty last month to one count of bank fraud, which carries a maximum of 30 years in prison, and one count of subscribing to a false tax return, which carries up to three years in prison.
The guilty plea was formally entered at a change of plea hearing Tuesday morning, after Mizuhara previously pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment last month as a procedural matter. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 25.
“I had fallen into major gambling debt. The only thing I could think was using his money to help pay for the debt,” Mizuhara told the court, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
According to the plea agreement, Mizuhara helped Ohtani, who does not speak English, set up a bank account in Phoenix in 2018, during which he interpreted the login information for the player’s account. In September 2021, Mizuhara started placing sports bets with an illegal bookmaker to whom he quickly became indebted, according to the plea agreement.
“Unable to pay his gambling debts, Mizuhara orchestrated a scheme to deceive and cheat the bank to fraudulently obtain money from the account,” the DOJ previously said in a release.
Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account and updated security information so bank employees would contact him, not Ohtani, when attempting to verify wire transfers from the account, according to the plea agreement. He also impersonated Ohtani on 24 occasions in calls to the bank, according to the agreement.
From November 2021 to March 2024, Mizuhara transferred nearly $17 million from the account to associates of the bookmaker in more than 40 wires without Ohtani’s permission, according to the plea agreement.
Mizuhara also admitted in the plea agreement to falsely claiming that his total taxable income for 2022 was $136,865 when, in fact, he failed to report an additional $4.1 million in income.
“The source of the unreported income was from his scheme to defraud the bank,” the DOJ said, noting that he owes approximately $1,149,400 in additional taxes for the tax year 2022, plus additional interest and penalties.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada previously stressed that Ohtani is a victim in the case and has cooperated “fully and completely” in the investigation.
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.
Mizuhara was charged in the matter in April. Following his initial appearance in federal court on April 12, his attorney, Michael Freedman, said in a statement to ABC News that Mizuhara is “continuing to cooperate with the legal process and is hopeful that he can reach an agreement with the government to resolve this case as quickly as possible so that he can take responsibility.”
“He wishes to apologize to Mr. Ohtani, the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and his family,” the statement continued. “As noted in court, he is also eager to seek treatment for his gambling.”
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.”
