Shohei Ohtani's translator gets just under 5 years for stealing $17 million from Dodgers ace

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) — The former longtime friend and translator of Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison Thursday for stealing nearly $17 million from the Major League Baseball star to pay his massive gambling debts.

Ippei Mizuhara, 40, was also ordered to pay $16,975,010 in restitution to Ohtani and another $1,149,400 at his sentencing hearing in Santa Ana, California. Both the government and Mizuhara’s attorney acknowledged that there was no way he could ever repay the money.

“I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done,” Mizuhara told the judge. “I’m prepared to be punished for it.”

U.S. District Judge John Holcomb rejected Mizuhara’s plea to be sent to prison for no more than 18 months and went instead with the Justice Department’s request for 57 months, which corresponded to the low end of the recommended guidelines for his crimes that take into account the staggering amount of money he stole.

The judge didn’t seem particularly persuaded by Mizuhara’s explanation in a letter to the court of the circumstances that led him to illegally access Ohtani’s bank accounts, again and again, over a two-year period to feed his gambling habit.

For one thing, Holcomb raised a number of questions about Mizuhara’s purported financial stress, including from paying a high rent in order to live close to Ohtani in Southern California, or that he was living paycheck to paycheck when, as the government pointed out, Ohtani was covering his rent and he had substantial balances in his checking account during the period in question.

“He’s receiving more in income and paying less in expenses than what he’s telling me,” the judge said, referring to Mizuhara’s letter. “Frankly, I feel this is a bit misleading.”

The judge also questioned Mizuhara’s attorney, Michael Freedman, why the translator never returned any of the money he had taken surreptitiously out of Ohtani’s bank account when his bets paid off.

Mizuhara worked as Ohtani’s interpreter for more than a decade, ever since the two met while Ohtani was playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The two became close friends, virtually inseparable by some accounts. Mizuhara had also, by 2021, become Ohtani’s de facto manager, with sole access to the ballplayer’s bank account and the ability to transfer money out of it at will without Ohtani or any of his other advisers knowing.

Between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara placed a staggering 19,000 wagers with an illegal bookie. According to the federal complaint, his losses outpaced his winnings by more than $40 million, a debt he was able to pay, at least in part, by stealing funds from his friend and employer.

Mizuhara’s fraud appears to have been premeditated and well thought out. According to the plea agreement, Mizuhara changed the email address, password and phone number connected to Ohtani’s bank account so that when bank employees wanted to verify various transactions, they would call the translator and not Ohtani.

While talking to bank representatives, Mizuhara admitted to pretending to be Ohtani on around 24 occasions. In total, Mizuhara was able to wire money from Ohtani’s account to associates of his illegal bookmaker 39 times, for a total of $16,590,000. One of the wires was for $500,000.

That wasn’t the extent of the theft. Between January and March 2024, Mizuhara bought around $325,000 worth of baseball cards on eBay and another website, Whatnot, using Ohtani’s bank account — including cards featuring Yogi Berra, Juana Soto and Ohtani himself. According to the plea agreement, he bought the cards “with the intent to resell them at a later dateand use the proceeds for his own personal benefit.”

Another instant of fraud shows Ohtani’s trust in his translator — and how Mizuhara betrayed it. In September 2023, according to the plea agreement, Mizuhara needed $60,000 worth of dental work done. Ohtani agreed to pay for it, and wrote his friend a check. Mizuhara then gave the dentist’s office Ohtani’s debit card, then deposited the check into his own bank account.

The Dodgers fired Mizuhara this past March, hours after a game in South Korea in which he and Ohtani could be seen chatting amicably in the dugout. Initially, Mizuhara told the media that Ohtani had been covering his gambling debts. The next day, Mizuhara admitted he had stolen the money. The shifting narrative fueled speculation that Ohtani himself was gambling.

Even the illegal bookmaker appears to have thought that Mizuhara was placing bets on behalf of his famous employer. After news of the scandal broke, according to the complaint, Mizuhara texted the bookie, asking, “Have you seen the reports?”

The bookie responded: “Yes, but that’s all bullshit. Obviously you didn’t steal from him. I understand it’s a cover job I totally get it.”

The translator replied: “Technically I did steal from him. it’s all over for me.”

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