The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is charged with federal bank fraud for crimes involving gambling debts and theft of millions of dollars from the Japanese slugger, federal authorities said Thursday.
Ippei Mizuhara served as Ohtani’s interpreter after Ohtani came to the U.S. to play for the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. The two were close friends outside of their working relationship and U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada says Mizhuara “acted as Mr. Ohtani’s de facto manager.”
Estrada says Mizuhara helped Ohtani set up a bank account for Ohtani’s baseball salary. Estrada says Mizuhara stole more than $16 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay for his own sports betting and lied to the bank to gain access to the account.
“Because of the position of trust he held with Mr. Ohtanti, he was able to “use and abuse” that trust to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s bank account,” Estrada said. Estrada also confirmed that Mizuhara had not deposited any gambling winnings into Ohtani’s account.
“Mr. Mizuhara did all of this to feed his insatiable appetite for illegal sports betting,” Estrada said, adding that the complaint alleged he had committed “major fraud.”
Estrada says there is no evidence that Ohtani was aware of his interpreter’s actions, adding that Ohtani has fully and completely cooperated with investigators. MLB players are banned from betting on baseball and face a lifetime ban if they are found to have placed a bet on their own team. They are allowed to bet on other sports in the nearly 40 U.S. states where gambling is legal, but not in California, where Ohtani and Mizuhara were based.
“I want to emphasize this point: Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” he said.
Mizuhara is expected to appear in court in Los Angeles in the near future, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. An email seeking comment on the allegations against Mizuhara was sent to his attorney, Michael G Freedman.
The maximum penalty for the charge against Mizuhara is 30 years in prison.
Mizuhara was abruptly fired by the team after the scandal surfaced last month, catalyzed by an IRS criminal investigation into an alleged illegal bookmaker. MLB opened a separate investigation.
Ohtani then laid out a version of events that placed responsibility squarely on Mizuhara, who had given conflicting statements about whether Ohtani had paid off Mizuhara’s gambling debts.
Ohtani left the Angels in December to sign a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. Ohtani and Mizuhara have been everyday companions since Ohtani joined the Angels in 2018.
Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. But ESPN said Mizuhara changed his story the next day, saying Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
On March 25, Ohtani told reporters that he had never bet on sports and had never knowingly paid gambling debts accrued by his interpreter.
“I am very saddened and shocked that someone I trusted did this,” the Japanese star said through a new interpreter. “Ippei stole money from my account and told lies. I never bet on sports and have never sent money to the bookmaker.”
Ohtani said he first became aware of Mizuhara’s gambling problem during a team meeting following a season-opening win over the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.
The investigation moved quickly and the indictment came about three weeks after news of the scandal broke.
“We understood there was significant public interest in this case,” Estrada said. “Although we were able to work on this case quickly, it was a very thorough investigation.”
Ohtani earned around $40 million in salary from the Los Angeles Angels before becoming a free agent and getting his $700 million deal, although he also makes tens of millions of dollars annually in endorsements and is one of the biggest celebrities in Japan. .