The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is being charged with federal bank fraud for crimes involving gambling debts and theft of millions of dollars from the Japanese slugger, federal authorities said on Thursday.
Ippei Mizuhara served as Ohtani’s interpreter after Ohtani came to the US to play for the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. The two were close friends beyond their working relationship and US 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 $16m from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay for his own sports betting and lied to the bank to access the account.
“Due to the position of trust he occupied with Mr Ohtanti” he was able to “use and abuse” that trust “in order to plunder Mr Ohtani’s bank account,” Estrada said. Estrada also confirmed that when Mizuhara did not deposit any gambling winnings into Ohtani’s account.
“Mr Mizuhara did all this to feed his insatiable appetite for illegal sports betting,” Estrada said, adding the complaint alleges he committed fraud “on a massive scale.”
Estrada says there is no evidence that Ohtani was aware of his interpreter’s actions, adding that Ohtani has cooperated fully and completely with investigators. MLB players are forbidden from betting on baseball, and face a lifetime ban if found to have placed a wager on their own team. They are allowed to bet on other sports in the nearly 40 US 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 a Los Angeles court for his initial appearance in the near future, according to the US Attorney’s Office. An email seeking comment on the allegations against Mizuhara has been sent to his attorney, Michael G Freedman.
The maximum penalty for the charges Mizuhara faces is 30 years in prison.
Mizuhara was abruptly fired by the team after the scandal surfaced last month, catalyzed by an IRS Criminal Investigation of an alleged illegal bookmaker. MLB opened a separate investigation.
Ohtani subsequently laid out a version of events that placed responsibility entirely on Mizuhara, who had given conflicting accounts of whether Ohtani had paid off Mizuhara’s gambling debts.
Ohtani left the Angels in December to sign a record $700m, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. Ohtani and Mizuhara had been daily companions since Ohtani joined the Angels in 2018.
Mizuhara told ESPN on 19 March that Ohtani 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 25 March, Ohtani told reporters that he had never bet on sports or knowingly paid any gambling debts accumulated by his interpreter.
“I am very saddened and shocked someone whom I trusted has done this,” the Japanese star said through a new interpreter. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies. I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker.”
Ohtani said he first became aware of Mizuhara’s gambling problem during a team meeting after a season-opening victory over the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.
The investigation moved at a quick speed, with the charges coming about three weeks after news of the scandal broke.
“We understood there was a significant amount of public interest in this case,” Estrada said. “While we were able to work on this case rapidly, it was a very thorough investigation.”
Ohtani earned around $40m in salary from the Los Angeles Angels before becoming a free agent and getting his $700m deal, although he earns tens of millions of dollars at least in endorsements each year, too, and is one of the biggest celebrities in Japan.