The interpreter for Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plea guilty to federal criminal charges for taking almost $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account without his knowledge or permission to pay off large gambling debts from an illegal bookmaking business and for filing a false tax return.

“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit. My office is committed to vindicating victims throughout our community and ensuring that wrongdoers face justice.”

Bank fraud carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, and subscribing to a false tax return carries a maximum sentence of 3 years in federal prison. Ippei Mizuhara, 39, of Newport Beach, has agreed to plead guilty to both charges.

Mizuhara was charged in a two-count information filed Wednesday. He is expected to plead guilty to the charges in US District Court in the next few weeks. His arraignment is May 14.

“Our joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations clearly showed Mr. Mizuhara not only stole from Mr. Ohtani but also that he lied to the IRS about his income, “said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. “Mr. Mizuhara exploited his relationship with Mr. Ohtani to bankroll his own irresponsibility. In cases where we are able to identify them, we make every effort to make things right for victims, and this is one of those cases.”

His plea deal, which was also filed on Wednesday, says that Mizuhara was Ohtani’s translator and de facto manager.

As part of his job, Mizuhara regularly spoke to Ohtani’s sports agents and financial advisors, who did not speak Japanese, on his behalf since Ohtani did not speak English.

Mizuhara worked for the Los Angeles Angels from 2018 to 2023 and then the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024.

While he worked for the teams, Ohtani paid Mizuhara separately for the extra work of driving him to meetings and translating for events that were not related to baseball.

Mizuhara went with Ohtani to a bank in Phoenix in March 2018 to help him open an account so he could deposit his MLB salary. An employee inside the bank branch gave Ohtani the login information for this account.

In September 2021, Mizuhara started betting on sports with an illegal bookmaker. Not long after that, He started losing bets and quickly owed the bookmaker money. He planned a scheme to trick and cheat the bank to steal money from the account because he was unable to repay his gambling debts.

Mizuhara used Ohtani’s password to access the bank account from November 2021 to March 2024. 

He then changed the account’s security settings without Ohtani’s knowledge or permission. Mizuhara changed the account’s registered email address and phone number so that bank employees would call him instead of Ohtani when they tried to confirm wire transfers from the account.

In all, Mizuhara called the bank and pretended to be Ohtani about 24 times.

“This investigation into Mr. Mizuhara and subsequent plea highlight the threat posed by financial crimes in the Los Angeles area,” said HSI Los Angeles Special Agent Eddy Wang. “The HSI-led El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force is dedicated to protecting all victims of financial fraud from all walks of life.”

During this time, Mizuhara regularly logged into Ohtani’s bank account and sent money to the bookmaker and others through wire transfers to pay off gambling debts. In one instance, on June 20, 2023, Mizuhara logged into Ohtani’s account without his permission and sent $500,000 to a bookmaker.

In September 2023, Mizuhara also needed $60,000 in dental work, and Ohtani agreed to pay for it with a check drawn from a different bank’s business account. But Mizuhara gave his dentist Ohtani’s debit card number for the bank account Ohtani had opened in Phoenix. Ohtani was then charged $60,000 to that account, and Mizuhara deposited the check into his own bank account.

Between January 2024 and March 2024, Mizuhara used Ohtani’s bank account to buy baseball cards from online sellers like eBay for about $325,000. He planned to sell the cards later for his benefit.

Ohtani’s sports agent and financial advisors asked Mizuhara to give them access to the bank account. Mizuhara lied and said Ohtani did not want them to have access because it was private.

In all actuality, Mizuhara didn’t want them to know that he had been stealing from Ohtani and getting more than $16,975,010 from him without permission.

In his plea deal, Mizuhara also said that he knowingly made and signed a false individual federal income tax return for the tax year 2022. On that tax return, Mizuhara lied and said that his total taxable income for that year was only $136,865, even though he knew it was much higher and didn’t report an extra $4.1 million in income.

Under the threat of being punished by the law, Mizuhara signed the false income tax return and admitted in his plea deal that he owes about $1,149,400 more in taxes for the tax year 2022, along with interest and penalties.

The IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigation are both looking into this.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel N. Agress, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell of the Major Frauds Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Boyle of the Environmental Crimes and Consumer Protection Section is in charge of this case.

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