The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was federally charged with bank fraud on Thursday, accused of stealing more than $16 million from the athlete whom authorities called a “victim.”
Ippei Mizuhara met Ohtani, who did not know English, in 2013 and helped him set up a bank account shortly after he arrived in the United States in 2018, and has since acted as his de facto manager, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada said during an afternoon news conference.
Mizuhara, who had an “insatiable appetite for illegal sports gambling,” accessed Ohtani’s bank account online, and shut out Ohtani’s agent, accountant and financial adviser from the account, Estrada said.
“I want to emphasize this point, Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case. There is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Ohtani authorized the over $16 million of transfers from his account to the bookmakers,” Estrada said.
He added: “Mr. Otani has cooperated fully and completely in this investigation. He’s not only spoken to investigators, he’s provided access to his digital devices, to his personal information, to ensure that justice was done.”
Mizuhara, who did not bet on baseball, is “linked to an illegal gambling operation,” Estrada said.
The maximum penalty for being convicted of bank fraud is 30 years in prison, Estrada said.
More on the betting scandal
From November 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara wired more than $16 million in unauthorized transfers from a checking account belonging to Ohtani, according to an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint. The transfers from this bank account were made from devices and IP addresses associated with Mizuhara, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
In September 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book and, months later, started losing large sums of money, prosecutors said.
Between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara is accused of making 19,000 bets that ranged in value from $10 to $160,000 per bet, the affidavit said.
During this time, the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account allegedly was changed to link the account to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address connected to Mizuhara, prosecutors said.
Mizuhara also called the bank and identified himself as Ohtani to fool employees into authorizing wire transfers from the account to people linked to the illegal gambling operation, prosecutors said.
“Mr. Mizuhara committed fraud on a massive scale,” Estrada said.
Mizuhara’s attorney and representatives for Ohtani and the Dodgers declined to comment Thursday.
Mizuhara will appear in federal district court sometime in the next few days, officials said during the news conference.
The Dodgers fired him on March 21 after Ohtani’s attorneys alleged “massive theft” from him tied to sports gambling.
Major League Baseball opened an investigation, and Ohtani on March 25, in his first public comments in the matter, said he had been betrayed and lied to, and he denied any involvement in sports betting.
Mizuhara was not only Ohtani’s interpreter but also a close friend and constant presence beside the baseball star.
“I’m very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this,” Ohtani said at a news conference in Los Angeles last month.
“Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies,” Ohtani said in Japanese with the help of a different interpreter.
The scandal came to light after reports by The Los Angeles Times and ESPN.
The allegations against Mizuhara centered specifically on wire transfers from Ohtani’s account — totaling at least $4.5 million, made in at least nine payments of $500,000 — to a bookmaking operation in Southern California that is currently under federal investigation, a person familiar with Ohtani and Mizuhara’s interactions has told NBC News.
Attorneys for Ohtani at the law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement at the time the allegations came to light: “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.”
Ohtani is one of baseball’s biggest stars.
The Japanese 29-year-old came to the U.S. in 2018 to play for the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, and then in December went to the Dodgers in a $700 million, 10-year deal.
