Shohei Ohtani's interpreter charged with bank fraud in betting case

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Ippei Mizuhara stole more than $16 million from Ohtani, a Los Angeles Dodgers star.

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 millions of dollars 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. 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 $16 million from Ohtani's bank accounts to pay for his own sports betting and lied to the bank to access the account.

"Due to the position of trust he occupied with Mr. Ohtanti" he was able to "use and abuse" that trust "in order to plunder Mr. Ohtani's bank account," Estrada said, also confirming that when Ippei would win on sports bets, he did not deposit the money into Ohtani's account.