Ohtani interpreter charged with theft of $16M from star
Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime interpreter of Shohei Ohtani, has been charged by federal authorities in Los Angeles with allegedly stealing more than $16 million (U.S.) from the Dodgers star.
Mizuhara was fired last month by the Dodgers after ESPN and the Los Angeles Times reported bank wires totalling $4.5 million had been sent from Ohtani’s account to an illegal bookmaker in California. Ohtani said he “never bet on baseball or any other sports” and that Mizuhara had stolen the money.
The interpreter has been charged with bank fraud, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the central district of California said in a release.
The office says Mizuhara is expected to appear at a downtown Los Angeles district court “in the near future.” Mizuhara is in negotiations to plead guilty and the investigation is “rapidly nearing a conclusion,” the New York Times reported, citing confidential sources.
An affidavit filed with the complaint alleges Mizuhara helped set up Ohtani’s bank account in Arizona in 2018. Ohtani’s salary was deposited there and Mizuhara told Ohtani’s financial representatives that the baseball star denied them access to the account, the affidavit claims.
When Mizuhara allegedly began gambling with the illegal sportsbook in September 2021 — and started losing “substantial money” months later — the interpreter changed the phone number and email on the bank account to his own, the affidavit says.
Mizuhara then allegedly wired more than $16 million between November 2021 and January 2024, pretending to be Ohtani on a phone call with the bank to authorize the wire transfers.
The complaint alleges Mizuhara made “approximately 19,000 wagers” ranging from $10 to $160,000 per bet and averaging around $12,800. Mizuhara won around $142 million but lost around $183 million, resulting in a total loss of more than $40 million, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement officials said Ohtani denied authorizing the wire transfers and Ohtani’s cellphone, reviewed by authorities, showed “no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts.”
Ohtani, 29, is baseball’s biggest and brightest star. A generational talent who has twice won MVP and is often compared to Babe Ruth, Ohtani is both an elite pitcher and hitter — a feat that has little precedent in the 150-year history of organized baseball.
Last off-season, Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700-million (U.S.) deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the largest contract in North American sports history. The Blue Jays had been rumoured to be finalists in the sweepstakes.
Mizuhara, 39, had worked with Ohtani as an interpreter since 2013, when Ohtani signed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Sapporo, Japan. Mizuhara was fired on March 20 shortly before
ESPN and the Los Angeles Times reported the wire transfers from Ohtani’s account to Mathew Bowyer, an illegal bookmaker.
The transfers — under “Shohei Otani,” the star’s legal name — were first flagged by authorities in January, ESPN reported. Sports gambling is illegal in California.
Mizuhara originally told ESPN that Ohtani had agreed to pay his gambling debt. Ohtani learned of that claim for the first time while the Dodgers played MLB’s opening series in South Korea.
“I didn’t know that Ippei had a gambling addiction and was in debt,” Ohtani said through an interpreter at a press conference March 25. “At that moment, it was an absurd thing that was happening and I contacted my representatives.”
Mizuhara and Bowyer, the bookmaker, are under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.