Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s disgraced former interpreter, pleads guilty to bank and tax fraud in connection with gambling scheme and now faces up to 33 years in prison
Shohei Ohtani’s disgraced former interpreter faces a maximum prison sentence of 33 years after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud.
Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty Tuesday in a California federal court following the first of Major League Baseball’s two massive gambling scandals in 2024. Mizuhara’s guilty plea came hours after MLB handed Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano a lifetime ban for betting on baseball .
Authorities say there is no evidence Ohtani was involved in – or even aware of – Mizuhara’s gambling problem.
The former interpreter is accused of exploiting his relationship with Ohtani while stealing millions from his private bank account. Sometimes Mizuhara even posed as Ohtani to funnel Ohtani’s money to illegal bookmakers.
MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from betting on baseball, legally or illegally, and also prohibit them from betting with illegal bookmakers. Mizuhara did not bet on baseball, preferring to bet on international football, the NBA, the NFL and college football.
Ippei Mizuhara leaves a federal court in Los Angeles after pleading guilty to fraud
Ohtani (center) and Mizuhara (right) began working with the Los Angeles Angels
Mizuhara’s winning bets totaled more than $142 million, which he deposited into his own bank account instead of Ohtani’s.
However, his losing bets amounted to approximately $183 million, a net loss of almost $41 million. He didn’t bet on baseball.
Mizuhara helped Ohtani open a bank account in 2018 and began stealing money from that account in 2021, according to the settlement. At one point, Mizuhara changed the associated security protocols, email address and phone number so that calls went directly to him and not Ohtani when the rank and file tried to verify transfers. Under the agreement, Mizuhara admitted to impersonating Ohtani at the bank approximately 24 times.
Mizuhara also admitted to falsifying his 2022 tax returns, underreporting his income by more than $4 million.
On Wednesday it was revealed that Real Housewives star Ryan Boyajian was an employee of bookmaker Mathew Bowyer. Mizuhara would transfer money to Boyajian to pay off his debts.