The Feds

This is Diane Bass, a criminal defense attorney in Southern California.

“And I answered the phone, he said this is E.P. me too, Harra, and Matt gave me your number.”

I would like you to represent me. Diane is the lawyer for the bookie, Matt Boyer. She says this call from E.P. came as a complete surprise. E.P. had been fired by the Dodgers in South Korea, and his plane had just landed in the United States.

The very first words out of my mouth, I didn't think I'd just blurted, you came back.

This is, you know, my defense layer hat. Show his lawyers had said show hey was a victim of theft, and they were turning the matter over to the authorities. Diane says it was clear to her that E.P. didn't understand the gravity of the situation. Because I knew he was going to be indicted, and he'd been out of the country.

So why would he come back? And he said, oh, I shouldn't have. I felt so terrible for him, and I said, well, no, your family is here. You did the right thing. As a criminal defense attorney, Diane knew that what had just happened to E.P. was going

to fundamentally change his life. And I said, I'm so sorry, you lost your best friend, and he said, well, it's my fault,

you know, and he basically owned it.

And then I just quickly said, look, I really wish I could represent you, but I can't. I had a conflict of interest because Matt had given the government information about him. You hang up the phone with him. What are you thinking? What are you feeling?

I felt really badly for him. He sounded so sweet. I knew he was in a world of trouble. E.P. was in a world of trouble.

And it began as soon as he stepped off the plane at LAX.

I'm ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson. From 30 for 30 podcasts, this is the betrayal of Shohei Otani, episode 5, The Feds. And 2010, the family of four in California goes missing in the clues left behind, sending investigators on a year's long search.

“Is this a family on the run or is the truth far more sinister?”

From ABC Audio in 2020, this is what happened to the mixtaves, coming August 11th, wherever you get your podcasts, or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts or had free episodes, early access to new episodes, and so much more. When E.P. is playing from Seoul, landed at LAX, there was a surprise waiting for him. E.G. LESSIN for all year listeners, every international airport is considered a border.

And at a border, restrictions on search and seizure do not apply. So the federal government have full license to conduct warrantless searches at the border. This is Martina Strada. At the time, he was US attorney for the Central District of California, and it was up to him to decide if there was enough evidence to bring charges in the show hey, E.P. case.

And so we needed to investigate A was Mr. Tani involved in this illegal conduct, and B, if

“he wasn't, how did this happen, and who was responsible?”

They needed to get to the bottom of what really happened between show hey, E.P. and Matt Boyer's illegal sports book, they needed E.P.'s phone. Often the phones are quite a get, you'll be surprised at what people have in their phones. It's a treasure trove of information from investigators. We had agents waiting, and we knew that he was coming in.

And so as a result, they do what they do, and they ended up having a conversation. This is Chris Seymour. He was an IRS special agent in LA for more than two decades when agents intercepted E.P. at the airport. They take his home.

He gives up his home voluntarily. Seymour had already been investigating Matt Boyer for years. He was the lead agent at the raid on Matt's house, and now it fell to him to investigate

Even though he admits in the beginning, he didn't even know who the guy was. Show hey who?

“I drove Dr. Los Angeles at a big image of show hey, I'm one of the buildings.”

It's huge. It's massive. It's like, who's that? I'm that guy who had no idea who he was. But after getting hold of E.P.'s phone at the airport, it was Seymour and his team who

read through nearly 40,000 texts between E.P. and show hey. There was a ton of information across us. So we had to break it into chunks. This person handles this, that person handles that. My focus was going through X amount of text messages and looking for anything that would

indicate who was doing what? And it was all in Japanese? Yes, we had to use Google translate to try to break through some of it. Well, we're the text messages about it. Just commonplace things.

Get something to eat. Hey, we're going to do this. What time's this? Maybe a video game. But it was very mundane.

Vanilla, I guess, is a common word I would use.

“Were you talking like a couple hundred texts a day, a couple thousand texts a day?”

A lot. What I was prolific is what I would say. Was it employee employer or was it two buddies? I mean, E.P. said they were as close as brothers. It was friends chatting.

A lot of friends chatting about betting. Didn't see it. Not one indication that someone was betting on something. Didn't see it.

See more says they never found any text between E.P. and show hey about gambling or sports

betting. But E.P. did talk a lot about betting with Matt Boyer. When E.P. was still in South Korea, I had asked her in our interview if I could see the messages between him and Matt. But E.P. told me.

I had to read every text I had with Matt. Seymour found two years' worth of encrypted messages on E.P. phone and he already had everything

“they'd found on Matt's phone, which he had seized during the raid, like betting records”

and money transfers. By combining the two together, Seymour was able to create a timeline of what happened. When E.P. first starts betting, the conversation is pretty mundane. I've just been messing around with soccer. This is a voice actor reading E.P.'s messages.

There are games on 24/7 L.O.L. I took UCLA, but they lost outright. Seymour zeroed in on messages about logistics. Like E.P. asking Matt how we want some to pay off his debts and how to make a wire transfer. I apologize for the delay.

I've never done a wire transfer.

By January 2022, about three months after E.P. started betting with Matt Sportsbook, E.P. asks if Matt would reload his account, because E.P. says he's lost at all. Boyer agrees and bumps him 50 grand. 13 days later, E.P. messages again. So E.P. asks for another $50,000.

That would be my last month for a while if I lose it. But the encrypted messages show that instead of quitting, E.P. keeps betting. And Matt keeps extending him credit. Anyway, you can put me a little bit. I need to wait a week to send another big wire.

This pattern continues for months. E.P. says he needs just a little bit more. Says this will be the last time. Matt gives him credit. E.P. loses and loses and just keeps losing.

I'm terrible at the sport betting thing, uh, L.O.L.L. Any chance you can put me again? As you know, you don't have to worry about me not paying. Matt told me that by this point in his relationship with E.P. he had seen the wires and thought show hey was paying for the bets.

So he was willing to let E.P. get deep into debt. I swear on my mom, this will be the last ask. If I paid off once I get back to the States, sorry for keep on asking. Matt writes back, no problem.

Done bud. Merry Christmas. E.P.'s message is to matter so casual, so relaxed. When you read them, there's no hint at how high the stakes had become for both of these men.

Because by May of 2023, E.P. owed Matt at least $2 million.

And was still asking for more credit bumps into June. I got my ass kicked again, L.O.L. Matt writes back a long message telling E.P. that he'll bump him. But adds, it's just imperative that the $500 is sent every week. He means the $500,000 wires.

I haven't the worst L.O.L.L.L. can't catch a break.

Can I get one last bump?

“I swear this is going to be my last until I get the balance down significantly.”

Matt gives him the bump. The next day, E.P. sends another ask. I have a problem, L.O.L. Can I get one last last bump? This one is for real.

Last one for real. Matt writes, "Done. I have the same problem. To be honest with you, E.P. As long as you can guarantee the $500 every Monday,

I'll give you as much as you want because I know you're good for it." In my interview with Matt, he said he felt like he understood E.P.

“psychology that he could relate to struggling with a gambling addiction.”

And here Matt is in the messages, essentially telling E.P. that he gets it because he has the same problem.

E.P. ultimately bet with Matt sportsbook for about two years.

Martina Strada, the former U.S. attorney on the case, says in that time, E.P. did an extraordinary amount of gambling. I myself was shocked to see Mitsuhara had bet on over 19,000 sports events over a few years. I mean, even if I wanted to, I couldn't do that many bets. Reading the encrypted messages,

some might seem Matt as a predatory bookie praying on someone's weakness. And E.P. is someone descending further and further into gambling addiction. But the federal investigators see it very differently. Well, not convinced he was just a gambling addict and had no choice.

“I think it's more he got this great opportunity, but then he saw a bigger opportunity to enrich himself”

and took advantage of that opportunity. Because he says investigators quickly realized E.P. wasn't just using show his money for sports betting. What did the baseball card save you? That's a question. That's a real question.

Mysteries unravel and stunning truths are revealed when 2020 investigates. Follow the clues, the evidence, the breaking new details. E.P. sees 2020 needs true murder mysteries. If you follow true crime in 2020, then you've got to listen to this. Subscribe now to 2020 True Crime Plus.

Add free exclusive True Crime content. Search 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple podcasts and start your free trial. Terms apply. On April 2nd, 2024, the Dodgers were in the middle of a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants. The scandal had erupted less than two weeks earlier.

The Dodgers would go on to win all three games. Show Hay went three for eleven with a home run, a double, and two RBIs. What we didn't know is before those games, show Hay had spent the day in interviews with federal investigators. Before I'm going to go on the record and say anyone is a victim,

I want to make real sure that they are in fact a victim. Martina Strada and his prosecutors needed to assess which show Hay may or may not have known. Mr. Otani was cooperative with the federal investigation from day one. That's not often the case. Even with people who have nothing to hide, people are worried about dealing with the feds.

Investigators spent much of their time going through show Hay's finances, trying to understand the complex network of bank accounts and people managing show Hay's wealth. Show Hay had bookkeepers, yet accountants, yet supports agents, and he had eBay, and a tax specialist as well. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell was the lead attorney investigating eBay.

He says the money from show Hay's endorsement deals and other investments in the U.S. was managed by a financial team, led by Show Hay's sports agent, Nez Balello.

He had that team in place the entire time. So he never, according to the people who he spoke to,

he never, you know, was involved in checking the accounts on the day-to-day basis. Show Hay didn't meet with his financial team very often, but when he did, he would bring eBay, because no one on the financial team spoke Japanese. And it kind of makes sense. Like, you know, the bank records are in English. He doesn't speak or be English. So he has a team for that.

Show Hay told the feds he generally didn't ask too many specific questions.

the agents to ask his team, you know, what is my overall financial picture?

“And then they would relay that to eBay who would then convey that to Show Hay.”

eBay having knowledge about show his finances is very different from the typical interpreter

player relationship. Money was something that we never touched when ever saw.

Kota Ishigima, a former MLB interpreter, says she's never heard of any interpreter other than eBay becoming involved in a player's financial affairs. Image lively, the other baseball player that eBay interpreted for, says eBay wasn't part of his banking. In my relationship with him, he didn't access to any money. But eBay wasn't just an interpreter for Show Hay. The angels paid him to be an interpreter,

but he also worked directly for Show Hay himself as his personal assistant,

“according to the feds. When Show Hay arrived in the United States in 2018, eBay helped him”

set up a bank of America account. According to the feds, Show Hay salary from the angels went into this account. Show Hay was the only signatory, meaning no one but Show Hay could legally withdraw money from it. And the money was not touched for several years. Show Hay told the feds he thought the money in that bank of America account was being managed by his sports agent Nez. Nez is a big deal at CAA, creative artist agency, the biggest and most valuable agency in the

world. Nez told the federal investigators that he asked eBay about this account, but he paid told him it was private and Show Hay didn't want anyone to have access to it. So Show Hay's sports agent was told there was a private bank account with millions of

“dollars in it that Show Hay didn't want anyone to know about. What did Nez think was going on”

with that account? Why would Show Hay need it to be private? Nez Bellello declined our request for an interview. But according to the feds, he never asked Show Hay himself about the account

and never hired a second Japanese speaker to double check what eBay was telling him. Even though

he was managing tens of millions of dollars for baseball's biggest star. Instead, Nez Bellello told investigators he had no reason not to believe eBay. But the feds didn't just take one guy's word for it. They hauled in Show Hay's financial advisor, his tax account and his bookkeeper. Two of them told investigators they asked the agent about the private account and Nez Bellello told them the same thing. Show Hay wants to keep that account private. He just took he pays

word for it. What is your understanding based on your conversations of how much the agent understood? So the financial bookkeepers and financial advisors and the accountans were asking the sports agent for the account that ended in the 5/8/48 number. And then the sports agent went ask eBay for it and then eBay would lie and say Show Hay doesn't want you to look at that. The last four digits of the private bank account appear in court documents 5/8/48. That's the same bank account number

I wrote down in my notebook when I saw the wire transfers. It's the same bank of America account that sent money to map Boyer's operation. And now the feds had uncovered a damning detail. The bank account had been dormant since its creation and was accessed for the first time on the same day that Matt's operation told eBay he needed to start paying off his bedding losses. The feds spotted a $40,000 payment from the private bank account sent a month later

and matched it to money received by Matt's operation. They could also see the big $500,000 wire transfer starting in May of 2023. Although you see the name Show Hay or Tani as the sender, you know that's just the bank account, you know that's just just a place where it originated from. These big transfers from Show Hay's account started just as Show Hay's salary with the angels went

way up from $5.5 million to $30 million. The account was suddenly even more flush with cash

and soon after new charges began to appear. They began in January 2024 and continued until we broke the story about two months later. The charges were from eBay and another online marketplace called whatnot and the purchases were being sent to someone named Jay Min at the Dodgers Clubhouse.

Jay Min, wasn't a real person. eBay had told the employee that he was going to be receiving

packages under that name. When Seymour opened them along with boxes in brief cases he sees from

“EPA's car, he found they all contained baseball cards. What did the baseball card save you?”

That's a question. That's a real question. There's a lot of cards and there was a lot of some high dollar ones in there. It was as if he had some other plan and that this was an escape strategy or this was his way of converting his loss, the gambling loss and everything and the funds into something that could be worth something in a future, almost like an investment. The charges for the cards total $325,000. I think my favorite one would be Yogi Barra.

So it's like, this is cool. This is an old Yogi Barra card. This is actually really cool.

A Yogi Barra card can be worth nearly $200,000. Seymour also remembers seeing other highly collectible cards like a one soda, which can fetch more than $300,000. But the value of a baseball card depends on a number of factors, including its condition and how rare it is. I could tell that some of these were very high quality. They're high-graded. They had the plastic case around them and yeah, but they were also specially type cards with a cork and with the pieces of the fabric

of the jersey. So these were not just your dime store cards. When I spoke to E-Pay's high school friend, he told me E-Pay had been an avid baseball card

collector as a teenager. He would study the cards memorizing facts and statistics about different

players. And his friend remembered how E-Pay would try to sell the baseball cards for a profit. I found one of E-Pay's best friends from middle school, and E-Pay loved to go to the baseball card conventions and buy baseball cards of his favorite players. That makes sense. And you show Hayo Tony cards? Oh, lots of them. Yeah. What did that say to you, you know? I suspect that maybe he was trying to get show Hayo to sign them for him at one point.

“I don't know. It might gut. It's telling me that that's what he was trying to do with those.”

Was there a smoking gun in E-Pay's case where you're like, "There it is." The recording of him calling in to do the wires. You can't just send a big wire payment out of a bank account without the bank asking a lot of questions. Since show Hayo was the only signatory on the account, he was the only person who could authorize payments from it. This call may be monitored every quarter. This is a bank of America recording

from February 2022. Oh, my speaking last. Show Hayo Tony. Thank you. How may I help you? So I tried to log in to online banking and it told me that it's not available to me at this time for a big call. Seymour would track the bank of America call to the same cell phone number I called

“when I interviewed E-Pay. Could you tell me the name of the payee in the amount of the transaction, please?”

Let's put 200,000 miles. What is your relationship to the payee? Oh, he's my son. Okay. Have you met your friend in person? Yeah, thank you. Well, there'd be any future wires to your friend? Oh, possibly. What is the reason for this transaction? For a car loan?

Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a car loan? The bank employee doesn't buy it and freezes show Hayo's account. But E-Pay doesn't give up. He calls back and gets a different bank employee. Like before, E-Pay says his name is Show Hayo Tony. But this time, the bank wants him to answer security questions. Things only Show Hay should know. But because E-Pay helps Show Hay set up the account because E-Pay's job is to pretty much know everything about Show Hay

and because by now, E-Pay had linked his cell phone and his personal email to Show Hay's bank account, E-Pay is able to provide answers that convince the bank employee to reopen the account. What I found to be the most persuasive was when I heard E-Pay in those bank recorded phone calls. This is Jeff Mitchell, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case. The feds found that E-Pay impersonated Show Hay on the bank calls 24 times. He's trying to kind of

in his own voice and perfect English say, "Hi, I am Show Hayo Tony." And you know, it's not Show Hayo.

So once we obtain those, I think that was like the last piece of evidence that we waited for. Show Hayo Tony could have said, "E-Pay just pretend to be me. Just get it done. I authorize you to do this.

“It, I don't, I don't want to deal with it. You just deal with it. Did you have to go through”

sort of that mental exercise of, did you have permission to do this, even though technically he shouldn't have said you of his Show Hayo Tony. He is Show Hayo Tony's personal assistant representative. He does all his banking. He does his driver's license. He does all these things. You know, we had so much evidence at that point. So by the time we actually had the recorded phone call, you know, it wasn't really like that mental leap to kind of say, "Okay, now we, you know,

have enough to prove our case." Mitchell points to the larger body of evidence that the feds gathered. And one particular encrypted message that to the feds was as good as an admission of guilt. He confessed, you know, boy at one point said, "Well, it's not like you stole the money, right?" And then E-Pay replied, "Actually, no, I really did steal the money." Mitchell was paraphrasing, but the exact words E-Pay used in the message are important.

Here is the actual exchange. It happened right after our story broke. E-Pay wrote Matt. "Have you seen the reports?" Matt responded, "Yes, but that's all bullshit. Obviously, you didn't steal from him. I understand it's a cover job. I totally get it." But E-Pay wrote back. "Technically, I did steal from him." What does E-Pay mean by "Technically, I did steal from him."

“Is he trying to claim he didn't exactly steal from Shohei? Or is it a confession?”

Technically, I did steal from him. Good morning. My name is Martin. I'm the United States Attorney base here in Los Angeles. We are here to announce today the filing of a federal criminal complaint against E-Pay Mizuhara, a person who until recently was in April 11th, 2024, just three weeks after we broke the story. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell filed a court document.

It contained a 36-page affidavit signed by IRS Special Agent Chris Seymour, that laid out the government's case against E-Pay Mizuhara. And it was Martin Estrada, who announced to the world just how much trouble E-Pay was in. The federal complaint filed just a few minutes ago, charges Mitsuhara with bank fraud

for allegedly stealing more than $16 million from Mr. Otani.

According to the complaint, Mr. Mitsuhara stole this money largely to finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports bed. The charges meant E-Pay was now facing up to 30 years in federal prison. Mr. Mitsuhara is expected to make his appearance in the next coming days and he'll make his appearance in his district. All right, thank you very much.

“Mitsuhara was given this golden opportunity. He basically got the key to the castle.”

He got that opportunity, but it wasn't enough. How do you describe Mitsuhara? Who is he really in your mind? I think he is a fraudster. He's a person who saw a chance to take advantage. He went and befriended Otani as soon as he signed his contract, saw an opportunity, sees an opportunity, and took advantage of this guy who was really relying on him

as a Sherpa to get through the United States and understand the customs here. Otani was a victim, clear victim, not just a gambling fraud. There were other things Mitsuhara was doing too. So he basically treated Otani like his personal piggy bank, which in my view, especially with all the opportunity that Mr. Otani gave to him, is inexcusable. The evidence that federal investigators gathered in their case is damning,

impersonating Shohei on the phone to the bank, rating Shohei's private bank account, using his money to buy baseball cards and to pay off gambling debts. Who would do this to their best friend?

People who have spent a lot of time observing and covering Shohei and E-Pay have always believed

that they were close, inseparable. If Shohei Otani was there, E-Pay was there. If E-Pay was there,

and Otani are best friends. Long time best friend, right? They were beyond friends. There was

something there that was like a brotherhood. Even E-Pay told me they were like brothers. That's his friends. We are like brothers, so they're every day.

“But what if even that isn't true? How did E-Pay develop E-Pay?”

We're not friends or anything. We're just business partners.

That's next on the portrayal of Shohei Otani.

“The portrayal of Shohei Otani is based on reporting by me, Tisha Thompson,”

with support from Tim Kewant and the E-S-Pian investigative unit.

Our producer is Carrie and Thomas. Our senior producer is Max Green. Our senior editorial producer

“is Prifi Barathon. Our associate producer is Gus Navarro. Story editing by Audrey Quinn,”

Elaine Tang, Eric Neal, and Mike Drego. Additional editing by Rebecca Hudson. Our archival producer is Jennifer Wheelock. Our line producer is Catherine Sanky. Production managers are Jason Schwartz and Shina Williams. Fact checking by John Masterbaradino with David Sabino. Additional editorial review from Masa Nihua. Voiceover by Gensa Nakahara. Original music by Allison Layton Brown and John DeLore. Sound designed by John DeLore. Chris Buckle is Vice President of the

ESPN investigative enterprise and digital journalism. Marsha Cook, Brian Lockhart, Heather Anderson, and Burke Magnus are executive producers for 30 for 30. David Roberts, Mike Foss, and Roxanna Scott are executive producers for ESPN.