Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara is reportedly being charged with bank fraud after it was revealed that he stole a staggering amount of money from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar, per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.
“Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani's longtime interpreter and confidant, has been charged with bank fraud after it was discovered he transferred more than $16M from Ohtani's account to an alleged illegal sports book, federal authorities announced in L.A. court,” Gonzalez wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Martin Estrada, a US Attorney, said the bets did not “appear” to be made on baseball, Gonzalez reports. Additionally, the bets were initially made in 2021 and continued until 2024.
Estrada added that Mizuhara admitted to stealing from Shohei Ohtani in texts that were reviewed by investigators, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports that Mizuhara “allegedly impersonated” Ohtani while speaking to the bank.
Disturbing allegations against Mizuhara
So where did the money go whenever Mizuhara won a bet?
“When Mizuhara won bets, he allegedly had his winnings deposited into his own bank account, not Ohtani’s, Estrada said,” Hernandez wrote on X.
One has to imagine that people inquired about Ohtani's bank account. Well, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, Ohtani's agent asked Mizuhara about the account “on multiple occasions.” Mizuhara, however, allegedly lied and said that Shohei had no interest in anyone else monitoring the account.
Mizuhara has reportedly been negotiating a guilty plea. It was previously reported that Mizuhara may have stolen more than the originally reported $4.5 million from Ohtani, something that was confirmed based on this latest report.
It will be interesting to see if Ohtani will address this massive update in the investigation. He has reportedly cooperated as the investigation continued, but Ohtani has not publicly discussed Mizuhara's scandal since he released a statement and did not take questions in late March.
Shohei Ohtani ready to focus on baseball
Ohtani was hoping to start strong with the Dodgers, and he has done exactly that on the field. The Dodgers are 10-5 and Ohtani is swinging the bat well.
There have been no shortage of off-the-field distractions for the Dodgers star, though. And sure, maybe some people expected that for Ohtani while playing for such a popular team like the Dodgers. But nobody expected this kind of scandal to surface.
There will continue to be updates on the situation moving forward. Perhaps Shohei Ohtani will speak to the media and address the scandal amid this shocking update.
Ohtani is certainly ready to move past the incident, though. He's always placed his primary focus on baseball and wants to help the Dodgers win. Still, one has to imagine that Ohtani feels extremely betrayed by Mizuhara, who was his friend in addition to being his interpreter.
We will continue to monitor and provide updates on this story as they are made available.
Follow Us
Subscribe