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Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter was charged with bank fraud by the US Department of Justice, which accused him of wiring more than $16mn from the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star’s bank account to pay off gambling debts.
Ippei Mizuhara, the Major League Baseball player’s interpreter and de facto manager, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Ohtani, who is from Japan and did not speak English, had no knowledge Mizuhara was accessing his bank accounts to cover gambling losses, according to the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which brought the case.
The justice department said Mizuhara made “unauthorised transfers” worth more than $16mn from November 2021 to January 2024 from Ohtani’s account. “The transfers from this bank account allegedly were made from devices and IP addresses associated with Mizuhara,” the DoJ said.
Mizuhara allegedly impersonated Ohtani to fool bank employees into approving bank transfers to associates of the illegal gambling operations where he placed his bets.
The charges are the latest development in a saga that has shocked the sport. Ohtani’s spokesperson initially claimed to ESPN that the baseball star had used the money to cover Mizuhara’s gambling debts, but in a subsequent statement, a law firm representing Ohtani said he had been the “victim of a massive theft”.
Accusations of theft surfaced at a time when Ohtani’s profile has never been bigger.
The two-way pitching and hitting superstar is often compared to Babe Ruth, making him one of the most sought-after endorsements in baseball. Last year he signed a 10-year contract worth $700mn — the biggest in professional sport — to join the Dodgers, the team controlled by Guggenheim Partners chief executive Mark Walter.
According to the complaint, Mizuhara placed 19,000 bets from December 2021 to January this year, averaging $12,800 per wager. Despite winning bets worth more than $142mn, his losses swelled to more than $182mn, leaving him more than $40mn in the red.
“I’m terrible at this sport betting thing huh? Lol,” Mizuhara messaged a bookmaker in November 2022, according to the complaint.
Ohtani has denied authorising the bank transfers, the DoJ said, and at a press conference on Thursday, E Martin Estrada, the US attorney for the central district of California, emphasised that “Mr Ohtani is considered a victim in this case”.
Ohtani provided his cell phone to law enforcement, who determined there was no evidence to suggest he was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts.
In late March Ohtani said: “I never bet on baseball or any other sports. I never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf. I never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
Referring to his former interpreter, Mizuhara, he added: “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies,” he said.
A federal ban on sports betting was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2018, paving the way for its legalisation in 38 US states and the District of Columbia. It remains prohibited in California.
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