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A former interpreter and longtime friend of baseball megastar Shohei Ohtani turned to federal authorities on Friday for allegedly stealing $16 million from his famous buddy to fuel his “voracious appetite for illegal sports gambling.” Officials announced that he had turned himself in.
“This morning, Ippei Mizuhara surrendered to law enforcement and is being held in federal custody,” the Justice Department said in a news release.
He was released on $25,000 bail and asked to surrender his passport. Treatment for gambling addiction was also ordered as part of the conditions of his release.
The former interpreter appeared in court Friday afternoon wearing a white shirt, blue suit, and shackles around his ankles. The judge who oversaw the hearing granted a request by Mizuhara's lawyer to remove the shackles.
Mizuhara's arraignment hearing is scheduled for May 9th.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said Thursday that Mizuhara faces federal charges of bank fraud for allegedly making unauthorized transfers from Ohtani's bank account from November 2021 to January 2024. Announced.
According to prosecutors, Mizuhara also pretended to be a superstar and tried to get bank employees to approve large wire transfers.
If convicted, Mizuhara could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
CNN has reached out to Mizuhara's lawyer for comment.
Hours after the former interpreter surrendered to law enforcement, Ohtani said he was “very grateful for the Justice Department's investigation” and added that he wanted to focus on his career, the Los Angeles Times reported. .
According to the paper, Ohtani said in Japanese, “Personally, this is a break and I want to focus on baseball.'' The statement marks the athlete's first public comment on the allegations facing his former interpreter since a press conference in late March.
It is not clear where the comment was made. CNN has reached out to Otani for comment.
Bill Robles/Associated Press
This courtroom sketch depicts Ippei Mizuhara appearing in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday, April 12, 2024.
Estrada said Mizuhara took advantage of his close relationship with Ohtani, constantly accompanying the Japanese star due to his poor English skills, “mainly to feed his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting.” he said.
Prosecutors said Mizuhara helped the baseball prodigy open a bank account in 2018, shortly after Ohtani immigrated to the United States from Japan.
However, Mizuhara refused to meet with Otani's other professional advisers, including Otani's agent, accountant and financial advisor, prosecutors said.
Lee Jin Man/AP
Ippei Mizuhara (left), who was acting as an interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (right) at the time, leaves a press conference on March 16th. Mizuhara was later fired on suspicion of illegal gambling.
Estrada said phone and bank records showed Mizuhara accessed Otani's account online. And in 2021, Mizuhara began sports betting with a group of bookmakers associated with illegal gambling activities, prosecutors said.
“We do not believe any bets were placed on the baseball game,” Estrada said. However, “as time went on, Mr. Mizuhara's bets became more and more frequent. And as time went on, Mr. Mizuhara's bets became more and more expensive.”
Estrada said phone records obtained by investigators showed Mizuhara lied to bank officials, pretended to be Otani, shared personal biographical information about friends, and sent large wires to banks. He is said to have tried to get him approved.
“If these transfers had been authorized, there would have been no reason for Mr. Mizuhara to impersonate Mr. Otani on his bank calls,” prosecutors said.
Estrada said Mizuhara's gambling winnings were not returned to Otani's account, but instead were transferred to Mizuhara's personal account.
“Mr. Mizuhara committed a large-scale fraud,” the prosecutor said.
According to a criminal complaint written by an IRS special agent, Mizuhara's spreadsheet of gambling records includes “approximately 19,000 bets from December 2021 to January 2024, an average of approximately 25 bets per day. “It reflects the bet.”
Records show that during that period, Mr. Mizuhara's total winning bets were $142,256,769.74, his losing bets were $182,935,206.68, and his net balance was negative $40,678,436.94. ”, the complaint states.
A representative for Otani declined to comment Thursday following reports of Suwon's alleged bank fraud.
Ohtani became well-known even among non-baseball fans after signing a historic $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year.
“After a lengthy investigation into Ohtani's phone records and communications, 'Mr. Ohtani' Ohtani is considered the victim in this case,” prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said, “While Ohtani provided his cell phone to law enforcement, law enforcement has no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of or involved in Mizuhara's illegal gambling activities or debt payments.'' I decided that.”
The allegations against Mizuhara became public while the Dodgers were in South Korea for the MLB Opening Series in March. ESPN and the Los Angeles Times reported that Ohtani's lawyers have accused Mizuhara of “grand theft” of millions of dollars and betting with a bookmaker that is under federal investigation.
Major League Baseball released a statement Thursday following reports of Mizuhara's federal indictment.
“Given the information disclosed today and other information we have already gathered, we will wait for the resolution of the criminal case to determine whether further investigation is warranted,” MLB said in a statement.
CNN’s Nick Watt, Jill Martin, Cheri Mossberg and Stephanie Becker contributed to this report.
