Feds: Ohtani interpreter stole $16M
The amount of money that Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara allegedly misappropriated from the Dodgers slugger is much more significant than previously realized.
Mizuhara has been charged with bank fraud by federal investigators after allegedly transferring over $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account to fund his illegal gambling, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced Thursday. It had previously been alleged that Mizuhara siphoned $4.5 million from Ohtani to cover gambling debts.
“At this point Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” Estrada said, according to The Athletic, adding that Ohtani “has cooperated fully and completely” with the investigation.
Estrada said texts reviewed by investigators showed Mizuhara admitting to bookies that he was stealing from Ohtani.
The complaint al- leged that Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani in talks with the Dodgers star’s bank to “trick and deceive” the officials into authorizing the large transfers.
Mizuhara was said in the complaint to have made 19,000 bets, ranging from $10 to $160,000, between December 2021 and January 2024. All told, Mizuhara won $142,256,769.74, and lost $182,935,206.68, meaning he suffered net losses of more than $40 million. Records show Mizuhara did not bet on baseball games, the complaint says.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Mizuhara was discussing a plea deal with federal authorities. The report said Mizuhara was able to steal the money from Ohtani by finagling the Dodgers star’s bank account so that there would not be notifications over the large withdrawals.
“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement after the scandal broke in March while the Dodgers were opening their season in South Korea.
MLB released its own statement regarding the news Thursday.
“We are aware of the charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against Mr. Mizuhara for bank fraud after a thorough federal investigation,” the league said. “According to that investigation, Shohei Ohtani is considered a victim of fraud and there is no evidence that he authorized betting with an illegal bookmaker. Further, the investigation did not find any betting on baseball by Mr. Mizuhara. Given the information disclosed today, and other information we have already collected, we will wait until resolution of the criminal proceeding to determine whether further investigation is warranted.” Ohtani has not taken any questions from reporters about the matter since the scandal became public, but he did read a prepared statement denying that he made the bets or had any knowledge of what Mizuhara was doing with his money.
“Up until a couple of days ago, I did not know this was happening,” Ohtani said March 25. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”
Ohtani continued, “I’m very saddened and shocked that someone I trusted has done this.”
Mizuhara worked with Ohtani since the Japanese star joined the Angels in 2018.
In addition to their professional relationship, the two were close friends.