Los Angeles Dodgers mega star Shohei Ohtani is officially cleared from any potential wrongdoing after some had speculated he may have been directly involved in betting on games. 

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Ohtani, has pleaded guilty in federal court to bank and tax fraud after stealing nearly $17 million from Shohei’s bank accounts without his knowledge.

It’s reported that Ippei used this money to bet on non baseball games, where his estimated wagers amount to over $142 million in wins and $183 million in losses. Resulting in a net loss of roughly $41 million dollars. 

The speculation around Ohtani’s involvement originally was that he was betting on the games himself and or paying off the bookie who was finalizing the bets. Throughout the entire investigation process Ohtani has made it clear to the media that he had no involvement and fought to maintain his innocence. 

Ippei now faces a potential 33 years in prison, with his sentencing due on October 25 later this year. He will also be forced to pay Ohtani a potential sum of $17 million in damages, the same amount he wired to an offshore account owned by bookie Matthew Bowyer to pay off his gambling debts. As well as over $1 million to the IRS in light of the tax fraud charges. 

Mizuhara’s web of lies doesn’t stop at gambling, either. He claims to have graduated from UC Riverside in 2007, but the school has said there is no record of Ippei ever attending the university. 

His resume also stated that he worked for a fellow major league team, the Boston Red Sox, as an interpreter. Like UC Riverside, the Red Sox came out to publicly refute this claim by Ippei as well. 

“Mizuhara was never employed by the Boston Red Sox in any capacity and was not an interpreter for Hideki Okajima during the pitcher’s time with the team.” Said Red Sox officials. 

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