A former interpreter of Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani was charged with bank fraud in federal court. Ippei Mizuhara was accused of stealing $16 million from Ohtani’s account without his knowledge to cover his gambling debts. According to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Mizuhara embezzled the money from an account of Ohtani’s that Mizuhara had helped set up and sent the funds without Ohtani’s knowledge to an illegal sports gambling operation. As a result, Mizuhara now faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on a single count of bank fraud.
At a news conference, U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada confirmed that there was nothing to suggest any wrongdoing by Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract to join the Dodgers this season as the league’s highest-paid player. Estrada made it clear that Mr. Ohtani was a victim in this case, and there was no evidence to indicate that Mr. Ohtani authorized over $16 million in transfers from his account to the bookmakers.
Mizuhara, who met Ohtani in 2013 when they were both with Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters team, was Ohtani’s near-constant companion during his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. The interpreter was fired by the Dodgers in March this year. Starting in late 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book, losing substantial sums, according to the federal affidavit.
To cover his losses, Mizuhara repeatedly impersonated Ohtani to “trick and deceive” bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s account, where the player’s baseball salary was deposited. Mizuhara “used and abused” his unique position of trust “to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s bank account,” Estrada told reporters.
Last month, while messaging a bookmaker about reports surfacing then that Mizuhara had stolen from Ohtani, Mizuhara wrote, “Technically I did steal from him. It’s all over for me,” according to the affidavit.
In response to the incident, Ohtani told reporters at a March 25 press conference that he was a victim of theft by Mizuhara and that he never bet on baseball or knowingly paid a bookmaker. Estrada said at Thursday’s press conference that a Japanese linguist had reviewed thousands of communications between Ohtani and Mizuhara and had found no discussions between the two about betting or authorizing transfers to bookmakers.
The investigation into Mizuhara grew out of an ongoing, broader probe by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security into illegal sports gambling operations throughout Southern California, Estrada said. The outcome spared the Dodgers and Major League Baseball a potential scandal of epic proportions, recalling the controversy stirred 35 years ago when Pete Rose was accused of gambling on baseball games, including those of his team, while he played for and managed the Cincinnati Reds.
