Ippei Mizuhara, former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in prison today. Per Sam Blum of The Athletic, there will be three years of supervised release and Mizuhara has been ordered to pay Ohtani nearly $17MM in restitution.
In March of 2024, reports emerged that millions of dollars had been wired from an account in Ohtani’s name to an illegal gambling ring. Mizuhara initially said that Ohtani agreed to the transfer in order to help him with gambling debts. Ohtani’s attorneys provided an alternative narrative, stating that the player “had been the victim of a massive theft” and Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers. MLB opened an investigation into the matter shortly thereafter.
Ohtani then read a statement to the media, interpreted by Dodgers employee Will Ireton, who had replaced Mizuhara. Ohtani stated that he had never bet on baseball, nor any other sport. He also claimed to have had no knowledge of Mizuhara’s behavior until just before the recent reporting. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies,” Ohtani said.
In April of 2024, Mizuhara was charged with bank fraud, alleged to have transferred more than $16MM from Ohtani’s account to the betting ring. Prosecutors identified Ohtani as a victim in the case. Mizuhara allegedly set up the account with Ohtani in 2018, when the player was first making the move from Japan to North America. The two had met while both were employed by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani’s Nippon Professional Baseball club.
Per the allegations, Mizuhara repeatedly contacted the bank and pretended to be Ohtani in order to access the account and get money to fuel his gambling habit. Ohtani’s agent repeatedly asked about the account but Mizuhara told him it was “private” and that Ohtani didn’t want anyone else to monitor it. Ohtani, meanwhile, believed that his accountants and financial advisors were monitoring the accounts. Since Mizuhara handled all the language interpretation between Ohtani and his team, each side remained unaware of what was going on.
Investigators had also seen text messages from Mizuhara admitting to the theft. “Technically I did steal from him,” one message read. “It’s all over for me.” Investigators viewed the text messages between Ohtani and Mizuhara, finding no evidence that the player had made any bets on sports, nor that he knew anything about Mizuhara’s betting. Though Mizuhara made hundreds of bets on sports, there is no evidence of him betting on baseball.
In May of 2024, Mizuhara pled guilty to multiple charges, including bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return. It was suggested at that time that Mizuhara would likely be deported to Japan once the legal process had played out. Major League Baseball closed its investigation into Ohtani in June, citing the thorough investigation which had pointed to the player being a victim, with no charges against him. Per Blum, Mizuhara’s attorneys expect him to be deported, as Mizuhara is a permanent resident of the United States but not a citizen.