(NewsNation) — Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former translator, is being charged with allegedly stealing more than $16 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player to cover staggering gambling debts.
Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said a federal complaint filed Thursday charges Mizuhara with bank fraud.
“I want to emphasize this point,” Estrada told reporters. “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.”
The New York Times reported earlier that Mizuhara, who was already fired by the Dodgers, is negotiating a plea deal to plead guilty to federal crimes.
Major League Baseball opened a formal investigation into illegal gambling and theft allegations surrounding the interpreter last month.
Ohtani has denied any involvement, and said he was “saddened and shocked” by the allegations against his interpreter.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports. I never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf and I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports,” Ohtani told reporters.
Both Mizuhara’s and Ohtani’s phones were reviewed. In several years and thousands of communications, officials didn’t find any betting discussions.
Mizuhara began working as a translator for Ohtani when the latter first came to the United States to play professional baseball, Estrada said. While Ohtani did not speak nor understand English, Mizuhara did, so he not only translated for the athlete, but also acted as his “de facto manager,” investigators found.
After arriving from Japan, Mizuhara had Ohtani set up a bank account to deposit his salary payments into. Mizuhara, who had access to that account, refused to give any to Ohtani’s other professional advisers.
It was in 2021, Estrada said, that Mizuhara started placing sports bets to bookmakers linked to an illegal gambling operation.
“Over time, Mizuhara’s bets became more and more frequent, and over time, Mr. Mizuhara’s bets became larger and larger in amounts,” Estrada said. “Messages between Mr. Mizuhara and the bookmaker show that he lost considerable money on those bets. But he continued to make the wagers — thousands of wagers over time.”
These bets, Estrada said, do not appear to be made over baseball.
While placing these bets, Mizuhara used his familiarity with Ohtani’s bank account to access it, then lied to the bank and gave them the baseball player’s personal information, to convince the bank to approve large wire transfers to bookmakers, authorities said.
“There would have been no reason for Mizuhara to impersonate Mr. Ohtani on calls with the bank if these transfers had been authorized,” Estrada said.
Between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara placed “approximately 19,000 wagers,” per a criminal complaint. During this time, he lost $182.94 million and made $142.27 million, bringing his total losses to nearly $40.7 million.
Mizuhara’s case, the criminal complaint said, stemmed from a broader probe of illegal sports bookmaking organizations based in Southern California, and the laundering of proceeds through casinos in Las Vegas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.