Ippei Mizuhara, the previous interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, surrendered to federal authorities Friday on prices that he stole more than $16 million from the Dodgers famous person to cowl money owed with an unlawful bookmaker.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged Mizuhara with financial institution fraud, alleging the 39-year-old took advantage of his closeness with Ohtani to feed a spiraling playing behavior, accumulating $40 million in losses throughout greater than 19,000 bets.
Authorities detailed in a 36-page legal criticism how Mizuhara received some $142 million by means of unlawful sports activities betting however misplaced about $183 million, putting a median of practically 25 bets per day. As his losses mounted over about two years, prosecutors mentioned, Mizuhara started making wire transfers from the checking account the place Ohtani’s baseball wage was deposited to repay his money owed with an unlawful bookmaking operation in Orange County.
Mizuhara is scheduled to make an preliminary look in federal courtroom Friday afternoon in Los Angeles. The Justice Division has mentioned Mizuhara is not going to be requested to enter a plea and can probably be ordered launched on bond.
Mizuhara faces as much as 30 years in jail if convicted.
E. Martin Estrada, the U.S. lawyer for the Central District of California, mentioned at a information convention Thursday that Ohtani was an unwitting sufferer, not an confederate, in Mizuhara’s playing spree. Ohtani absolutely cooperated with a federal investigation and offered entry to his digital gadgets and private data, Estrada mentioned.
“Our investigation has revealed that as a result of place of belief he occupied with Mr. Ohtani, Mr. Mizuhara had distinctive entry to Mr. Ohtani’s funds,” Estrada mentioned. “Mr. Mizuhara used and abused that place of belief to be able to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s checking account … to feed his insatiable urge for food for unlawful sports activities betting.”
The 2 met in 2013, when Ohtani was an 18-year-old rookie for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Hokkaido, and Mizuhara was a translator for American gamers. When Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2018, Mizuhara got here too.
Mizuhara, who was born in Japan however attended center and highschool in L.A. County, served as Ohtani’s physique man and de facto supervisor in Southern California, serving to the star navigate an unfamiliar language and nation.
Mizuhara had taken an uncommon path to a job with Main League Baseball. After graduating from Diamond Bar Excessive Faculty in 2003, he tried his hand at a number of careers, together with working at a sushi restaurant and for a Japanese firm that imported and distributed sake. It had been extensively reported, together with in a biography offered by the Angels, that Mizuhara graduated from UC Riverside in 2007, however the college mentioned there have been no information of a pupil by that identify.
After Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, Mizuhara grew to become a continuing presence in his life, translating conversations and interviews, serving to to handle his schedule and corresponding together with his dad and mom, buddies and enterprise associates in Japan. At any time when Ohtani did nicely on the sector, Mizuhara informed a reporter in 2018, “I normally get 15-20 texts.”
When Ohtani first arrived within the U.S., the criticism alleged, Mizuhara took him to a financial institution in Arizona to arrange a U.S. account, the place his MLB wage was deposited. The account wasn’t accessed on-line in any respect between early 2018 and late 2021, a couple of month after Mizuhara was granted an account with the unlawful Orange County bookmaking operation, the criticism mentioned.
Federal officers mentioned Mizuhara organized wire transfers from the account with out Ohtani’s data or permission, impersonated Ohtani throughout cellphone calls with financial institution staff and used biographical particulars from Ohtani’s life to move safety questions.
Ohtani informed U.S. investigators that when he needed to get a way of his monetary portfolio, he would ask Mizuhara to speak to his agent, bookkeeper, tax preparer and monetary adviser. However when Ohtani’s group inquired concerning the checking account containing his MLB wage, the criticism mentioned, Mizuhara informed them that Ohtani needed the account stored non-public.
Financial institution information reviewed by investigators confirmed that the contact data on the account was modified to hyperlink it to Mizuhara’s cellphone quantity and an e-mail account additionally related to the interpreter.
Greater than $16 million was despatched from the account through wire transfers from November 2021 to January 2024 to accounts managed by folks linked to the bookmaking operation, the criticism mentioned. The majority of the cash — about $15 million — was moved from February 2022 to October 2023.
Investigators mentioned they seized Mizuhara’s cellphone at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport on March 21 after he returned from South Korea, the place the scandal had erupted through the Dodgers’ season-opening sequence in Seoul.
Investigators compiled 9,700 pages of textual content messages, together with these through which the alleged bookmakers requested Mizuhara to pay his playing money owed, and Mizuhara requested for “bumps,” slang for growing his borrowing restrict with the playing operation.
In November 2022, Mizuhara texted an individual recognized within the criticism as Bookmaker 1: “I’m horrible at this sport betting factor huh? Lol … Any likelihood u can bump me once more?? As , you don’t have to fret about me not paying.”
However by November 2023, Bookmaker 1 gave the impression to be impatient about Mizuhara paying what he owed, writing in a single message that he was annoyed that Mizuhara wasn’t returning his calls.
“I’m right here in Newport Seaside and I see [Ohtani] strolling his canine,” the message mentioned. “I’m simply gonna go up and discuss to him and ask how I can get in contact with you because you’re not responding? Please name me again instantly.”
By January, the messages had grown extra ominous, with Bookmaker 1 writing: “You’re placing me ready the place that is going to get uncontrolled. If I don’t hear from you by the tip of the day immediately it’s gonna be out of my arms.”
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