The former interpreter for MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani wasn’t battling a gambling addiction when he stole $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers sensation to pay off sports betting debts, federal prosecutors claimed in a court document filed Thursday.
Ippei Mizuhara recently requested an 18-month sentence, but prosecutors responded with documents showing little evidence of addiction other than “self-serving and uncorroborated statements to the psychologist he hired for the purposes of sentencing,” according to an ESPN report.
The feds had originally asked for a five-year sentence. After Mizuhara’s plea to U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb for a lesser penalty due to “remorse” for his actions and the gambling problem, prosecutors changed their request to 57 months served in prison, three years of supervised release, $16 million in restitution to Ohtani, and another $1.1 million payment to the IRS for not filing the income he stole.
Mizuhara, who pleaded guilty in June, could face up to a maximum of over 30 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6.
“All defendants claim to be remorseful at the time of sentencing. The question courts must answer is whether the defendant is truly remorseful or whether they are just sorry they were caught,” prosecutors said in the filing.
Gambling history
Mizuhara claims that his long-running addiction had him visiting casinos four to five times a week.
Prosecutors say they researched more than 30 casinos across the U.S. and found that Mizuhara spent $200 at the Mirage in Las Vegas in 2008. Other evidence they included in their filing showed that the defendant opened a FanDuel Sportsbook account in 2018 but never placed a wager with the online operator.
In 2023, Mizuhara did use DraftKings Sportsbook, placing wagers ranging from $5 to $1,400 on NBA, NHL, soccer, and college baseball games.
Prosecutors also claim that Mizuhara didn’t have outrageous debts and chose to take Ohtani’s money without intent to pay the Dodgers star back. In March 2023, Mizuhara had more than $30,000 in his bank account, and over $195,000 a year later, when the Dodgers fired him and the scandal came to light.
Bookie problems
Mizuhara began accumulating massive gambling debts after he began using illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer in September 2021 and racked up a net loss of $41 million. Bowyer pleaded guilty last year to running an illegal gambling business in California, where sports betting isn’t legal and regulated. He was also charged with money laundering and faces sentencing Feb. 7.
By acting as his interpreter, Mizuhara is alleged to have gained Ohtani’s trust as a friend and access to his bank account. On several occasions, he impersonated Ohtani to make wire transfers from the baseball player’s account to his own.
Prosecutors said Mizuhara used Ohtani’s debit card to cover his rent without his knowledge and drove a car provided by the man he worked for, so Mizuhara had no major spending expenses.
Ohtani had no knowledge of the theft for multiple years. He was cleared by Major League Baseball and U.S. authorities of any wrongdoing.
