The former translator for the Japanese superstar, who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers in California, has been charged with bank fraud and stealing more than $16 million (€14.8 million) from the MLB star.
The former translator for one of baseball’s most prominent global stars, Japanese pitcher Shohei Ohtani, has been accused of embezzling from his former employer in addition to the already known illegal betting activities that have sparked a scandal in the US.
Ippei Mizuhara, 39, made a series of unauthorised transfers from Ohtani’s bank account between November 2021 and January 2024, according to the Department of Justice.
Commenting on the betting aspects of the scandal, US Attorney Martin Estrada told a press conference that there was no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of or involved in Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activities, thus allaying doubts about the Japanese player’s innocence based on the evidence at hand.
“I would like to emphasise this point: Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” said prosecutor Estrada. The Japanese, who switched teams in Los Angeles last December to join the Dodgers in a record $700 million deal, told reporters last month that he had never bet on baseball and was unaware of Mizuhara’s gambling problems.
The pitcher and designated hitter has not publicly explained how such a large sum of money could have disappeared from his account without his knowledge, raising suspicions.
It was revealed that in 2018, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani, who didn’t speak English at the time, to a bank branch in Arizona to open an account.”Ohtani’s professional baseball salary was deposited into this account, and he never gave Mizuhara control over this or any of his other financial accounts,” an affidavit in the case said.
“Mizuhara allegedly informed Ohtani’s US-based financial professionals, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani had denied them access to the account,” the Justice Department added. Estrada mentioned that while working as Ohtani’s interpreter, Mizuhara effectively acted as the baseball star’s “de facto manager”.
“Because of his position of trust, Mizuhara had unique access to Ohtani’s finances. He used and abused that position of trust to take advantage of Mr Ohtani and feed his insatiable appetite for sports betting,” the prosecutor said, adding that Mizuhara “committed fraud on a massive scale”, an offence that could result in a prison sentence. Bank fraud carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.
The DOJ’s complaint details the staggering volume and value of bets placed by Mizuhara as his gambling spiralled out of control. Between December 2021 and January 2024, he placed approximately 19,000 bets ranging from $10 to $160,000, averaging $12,800 per bet. Mizuhara had winning bets of $142.3 million and losing bets of $182.9 million, resulting in losses of approximately $40.7 million.
The complaint details that the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account was later changed to link it to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address associated with Mizuhara, according to the affidavit.
Mizuhara is also alleged to have falsely identified himself as Ohtani in order to trick bank employees into authorising wire transfers. Further evidence against the former interpreter include recordings of bank telephone conversations in which Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani while attempting to make wire transfers.
The DOJ said that in an interview with law enforcement officials, the baseball star denied authorising Mizuhara’s wire transfers. “Ohtani provided his mobile phone to law enforcement officials, who determined that there was no evidence that Ohtani was aware of or involved in Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activities or the payment of those debts,” the Department concluded.
Major League Baseball’s gambling policy prohibits “any player, umpire, club or league official or employee” from betting on baseball or placing illegal bets on any other sport. Players found guilty of betting on a game in which they were involved face lifetime bans, with lesser suspensions of up to one year for betting on games in which they were not directly involved.
