Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter pleads guilty to fraud charges

LOS ANGELES — Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani, pleaded guilty Tuesday to bank and tax fraud charges after he admitted to taking nearly $17 million from the baseball player’s account.

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The 39-year-old earlier indicated plans to plead guilty to one count each of bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return. He faces a maximum sentence of 33 years in prison.

He will be sentenced Oct. 25, according to ESPN.

Authorities said the thefts began in 2021, three years after the Los Angeles Angels hired Mizuhara to interpret for Ohtani, who is originally from Japan. Officials said he “acted as a de facto manager and gatekeeper” to Ohtani, who paid him separately to act as an interpreter with his sports agents and financial advisors.

In 2018, Mizuhara went with Ohtani when the baseball player visited a bank in Phoenix to open an account to deposit his MLB earnings.

Later, in September 2021, Mizuhara started to place sports bets with an illegal bookmaker, authorities said. Soon after, he found himself losing and hatched a plan to transfer money from Ohtani’s bank account to cover his debts.

The scheme ran from about November 2021 to March 2024, prosecutors said. In 41 transactions, he wired just under $16.6 million to cover his debts. He also used Ohtani’s card to cover $60,000 worth of dental work before depositing a $60,000 check from Ohtani into his personal checking account. The check was meant to cover the bill for Mizuhara’s dental work, prosecutors said.

The 39-year-old also spent $325,000 of Ohtani’s money on baseball cards at eBay and Whatnot. In all, authorities said he got more than $16.9 million from Ohtani’s account.

“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said last month in a news release. “He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit.”

He also admitted to lying on his 2022 income taxes, saying that he had a taxable income of about $137,000 when it was actually closer to $4.2 million because of the bank fraud scheme.

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Ohtani on a 10-year, $700 million contract in December, making him the highest-paid player in MLB history. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers in March.

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