Shohei Ohtani's ex-interpreter charged with stealing US$16M from baseball star in sports betting case

The former longtime interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is being charged with federal bank fraud for crimes involving gambling debts and theft of more than US$16 million from the Japanese sensation, federal authorities said Thursday.

The former longtime interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is being charged with federal bank fraud for crimes involving gambling debts and theft of more than US$16 million from the Japanese sensation, federal authorities said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges Thursday.

Ippei Mizuhara served as Ohtani’s interpreter after Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2018 to play baseball. Estrada says Mizhuara “acted as Mr. Ohtani’s de facto manager.”

Estrada says Mizuhara helped Ohtani set up a bank account for Ohtani's baseball salary. Estrada says Mizuhara stole more than US$16 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay for his own sports betting and lied to the bank to access the account.

Estrada says Mizuhara was able to “use and abuse” his position of trust with Ohtani "in order to plunder Mr. Ohtani's bank account. Estrada also confirmed that when Mizuhara would win on sports bets, he did not deposit the money into Ohtani’s account.

“Mr. Mizuhara did all this to feed his insatiable appetite for illegal sports betting,” Estrada said, adding the complaint alleges he committed fraud “on a massive scale.”

Estrada says there is no evidence that Ohtani was aware of his interpreter’s actions, adding that Ohtani has cooperated fully and completely with investigators.