Federal prosecutors have charged Ippei Mizuhara, the since-fired interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, with stealing greater than $16 million from the Dodgers celebrity to pay money owed with an allegedly unlawful bookmaker.
The U.S. Lawyer for the Central District of California, Martin Estrada, introduced the cost Thursday at a information convention in downtown Los Angeles.
“Mr. Ohtani is taken into account a sufferer on this case,” Estrada stated.
He stated that Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani in conversations with financial institution officers, positioned hundreds of wagers and deposited winnings in a checking account the interpreter managed.
“Mr. Mizuhara did all this to feed his insatiable urge for food for unlawful sports activities playing,” Estrada stated.
Mizuhara faces a single rely of financial institution fraud.
Michael Freedman, an L.A.-based felony protection lawyer, confirmed he represents Mizuhara, however has declined additional remark. Mizuhara, a Diamond Bar Excessive College graduate who has been a fixture at Ohtani’s facet since his first season with the Angels in 2018, didn’t reply to messages.
The cost is the most recent twist in a saga that has transfixed the baseball world since The Occasions broke the story on March 20. The newspaper reported that Ohtani’s identify had surfaced within the federal investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an allegedly unlawful bookmaker who lives in Orange County. Ohtani’s representatives accused Mizuhara of committing “large theft” of the ballplayer’s cash to position bets with Bowyer’s group.
Bowyer, whose San Juan Capistrano residence was raided by federal brokers in October, has not been charged with against the law.
The saga spilled into public view after a number of days of shifting accounts behind the scenes in regards to the episode. The Occasions first requested remark from Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, on March 15, then Matthew Hiltzik, a New York-based disaster public relations supervisor, contacted the newspaper a day in a while behalf of the ballplayer. The publicist finally stated Ohtani had no remark.
Whereas the Dodgers ready to open their season in opposition to the San Diego Padres in Seoul, ESPN later reported, an Ohtani spokesman instructed the outlet that the cash got here from Ohtani to cowl Mizuhara’s playing money owed. ESPN performed a prolonged interview with Mizuhara on March 19 that was organized by the spokesman. Mizuhara claimed Ohtani had paid his playing money owed.
The spokesman quickly disavowed the account, in response to ESPN, and changed it with the allegation that Mizuhara stole the cash by means of wire transfers.
Close to the top of the Dodgers’ season-opening win over the Padres in a sport that began at 3 a.m. Pacific time on March 20, a tv digital camera captured Ohtani and Mizuhara laughing within the dugout.
Earlier than the clubhouse opened to the media after the sport, a number of Dodger executives addressed the workforce together with Mizuhara. In accordance with a number of individuals with information of the assembly, the interpreter stated he had a playing drawback and Ohtani paid off his money owed final 12 months.
In feedback made throughout a information convention in L.A. a number of days later, Ohtani described in Japanese what occurred after the clubhouse assembly: “We returned to the lodge and Ippei spoke to me for the primary time and that’s after I realized he had an enormous debt. That’s when he instructed me he accessed my checking account and made funds to a bookmaker. I believed that was unusual, so I known as my representatives.”
The West Hollywood regulation agency representing Ohtani, Berk Brettler, issued the “large theft” assertion” and stated, “we’re turning the matter over to the authorities.” The Dodgers shortly fired Mizuhara.
Two days later, Main League Baseball introduced an investigation. The league’s guidelines prohibit “any participant, umpire, or Membership or League official or worker” from betting on the sport or making unlawful bets on different sports activities.
Throughout the information convention March 25, Ohtani alleged that Mizuhara stored him at nighttime in regards to the media inquiries: “Ippei didn’t inform me such reporting was going down. … Ippei instructed everybody, together with my agent, that I made funds not on behalf of Ippei, however on behalf of one other pal.” Ohtani stated it was a “full lie” that he paid Mizuhara’s playing money owed and denied betting on sports activities.
“I actually have by no means guess on something or guess for anybody on a sporting occasion, or requested somebody to guess for me, and I’ve by no means requested anybody to ship cash to a bookmaker from my checking account,” Ohtani stated.
He added: “The conclusion is that he was mendacity to everybody, together with everybody round me.”
Ohtani’s unparalleled excellence as a hitter and pitcher remodeled him into a global icon and led to a 10-year, $700-million free-agent contract with the Dodgers in December. The deal is the most important in baseball historical past, although a lot of the cash is deferred till after the contract ends.
However the previous few weeks have thrust Ohtani into the center of a world storm that has nothing to do with baseball.
“Truthfully, I don’t assume shock is the correct phrase,” he stated final month. “I’ve spent the final week in one thing past that, which I can’t specific in phrases.”
Occasions employees writers Matt Hamilton and Adam Elmahrek contributed to this report.
