Ippei Mizuhara pretended to be Shohei Ohtani during fraudulent $200K wire transfer attempt, bombshell audio reveals

Ippei Mizuhara, the ex-interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, pretended to be the Dodgers superstar in a call to a bank as he attempted to get a $200,000 wire transfer cleared from one of the ballplayer’s accounts, new audio revealed. 

The Athletic released an audio clip from the Justice Department that had been referenced in a court filing in which federal prosecutors recommended Mizuhara be sentenced to nearly five years in prison and pay restitution. 

Mizuhara pled guilty to charges of bank fraud and filing a false tax return after he had stolen roughly $17 million from Ohtani to cover gambling debts. 

The audio recording had been obtained from the bank and showed how Mizuhara had gotten around the bank’s security measures by having Ohtani’s bank information routed to Mizuhara’s email and phone. 

The clip begins with the person asking who they are speaking with, to which Mizuhara replies, “Shohei Ohtani.”

Mizuhara went on to explain that he was having an issue logging onto the online banking system and after going through the security procedures, the bank agent informed the pretend Ohtani that the bank had noticed a “trend of fraud and scams” which had put it on alert for online transactions.