What you need to know
- Mizuhara Ippei, 39, agreed to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of filing a false tax return as part of a deal with prosecutors.
- Under the plea agreement, Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter could face up to 30 years in federal prison.
- The investigation into Mizuhara's sports betting was part of a larger investigation into illegal gambling activities.
Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to bank fraud and tax evasion charges in a sports betting scandal in which he allegedly stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star over several years.
Mizuhara Ippei is scheduled to appear in federal court in Orange County on Tuesday morning for a hearing to modify his plea agreement. The hearing comes about a month after Mizuhara, a longtime friend of Ohtani, and prosecutors agreed to the plea deal as part of a broader federal sports betting investigation.
Mizuhara, 39, of Newport Beach, is expected to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. Mizuhara could face up to three years in federal prison on the false tax return charge.
“The interpreter would be greatly rewarded if he cooperates with the feds,” said NBCLA legal analyst Royal Oakes. “This guy is not a big deal, but he's going to change his tune if he cooperates with the prosecution, which means he'll be rewarded with a very light sentence.”
Judgment and compensation proceedings have not been scheduled.
Prosecutors charged that he placed staggering amounts of bets using money stolen from his longtime friend, Mizuhara, one of the world's most popular and highest-paid athletes, to satisfy his “insatiable appetite” for sports betting. The charges against the Orange County man were outlined in a lengthy criminal indictment that supports federal bank fraud charges.
The day after the federal charges were announced in April, Mizuhara issued a statement through his lawyer suggesting a settlement was likely and apologized to Ohtani. His lawyer, Michael G. Friedman, said in a statement that Mizuhara “hopes to reach an agreement with the government as soon as possible to resolve this case so that he can take responsibility.” He added, “Mizuhara would like to apologize to Ohtani, the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and his family.”
According to a criminal complaint filed in the gambling scandal, Mizuhara made approximately 19,000 bets between December 2021 and January 2024, averaging nearly 25 bets per day. The bets ranged from about $10 to $160,000 per bet, with the average bet being about $12,800.
Mizuhara's winnings totaled more than $142,256,000 and his losses totaled approximately $182,935,000, bringing his total losses to more than $40,679,000, according to the affidavit.
The complaint, written by a senior IRS special agent, cites wire transfers, text messages, phone records and interviews. In text messages to the bookmaker, Mizuhara admitted to stealing money from Otani's account, prosecutors said. The investigation into Mizuhara is part of a larger probe into illegal gambling activities.
Authorities have announced federal charges against Ippei Mizuhara, who allegedly helped open a bank account for baseball player Shohei Ohtani in 2018, NBC Los Angeles' Karma Dickerson reports.
Prosecutors have said there is no evidence Ohtani authorized the transfer from his account and have portrayed the baseball superstar as a victim in the case. Ohtani is reportedly cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
The records do not show any bets on baseball.
The scandal broke in mid-March when Mizuhara was fired for allegedly stealing money from Ohtani's bank account to cover illegal gambling losses. The gambling debts were to an illegal gambling operator in Orange County that was under investigation by the IRS.
According to prosecutors, Mizuhara accompanied Otani to a bank branch in Arizona and served as an interpreter to open the account in 2018. Otani's paycheck was deposited into the account, prosecutors said, and Otani never gave Mizuhara control of the account or any other financial accounts, according to the affidavit.
Investigators believe that income from Ohtani's sponsorship deals and investments was funneled into separate accounts.
Mizuhara then identified himself as Otani in his communications with the bank and was able to lift the suspension on the account's online banking.
According to prosecutors, Mizuhara began illegally gambling on sports in 2021. A few months later, Mizuhara began losing “substantial” amounts of money, and around the same time, contact information for Otani's bank account was changed to link it to Mizuhara's phone number and anonymous emails, prosecutors said.
Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19, at the request of an interpreter, that Ohtani had paid off his gambling debts, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. But the next day, ESPN reported that Mizuhara had significantly changed his story, claiming that Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not sent any money to betting shops.
Ohtani and his lawyers have maintained that he had no knowledge of the “large-scale theft” until news of it came to light last month, when the Dodgers were playing their season opener against the San Diego Padres in South Korea.
Major League Baseball has launched its own investigation in tandem with the federal IRS investigation.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, you can call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1-800-522-4700 to speak to a counselor, or get help through the online peer support forum at www.gamtalk.org. The NCPG also provides additional resources on its website.
