Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges at a change of plea hearing on Tuesday morning in a Santa Ana, California federal courtroom. This follows a previous not-guilty plea that Mizuhara made during his arraignment in May.
Mizuhara’s multi-year stint as Ohtani’s interpreter with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers came to an end in March after reports surfaced alleging Mizuhara stole close to $17 million directly from Ohtani’s bank accounts.
Mizuhara’s guilty plea includes one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. He’ll face up to a 30-year maximum sentence in federal prison for committing bank fraud, with up to three years in federal prison for falsifying his tax return records. Mizuhara’s sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 25.
“I worked for victim A and had access to his bank account and had fallen into major gambling debt,” Mizuhara told the court Tuesday. “I went ahead and wired money … with his bank account.”
Currently, Mizuhara is required to pay Ohtani restitution worth $17 million, in addition to more than $1 million directly to the IRS, with these amounts subject to change before sentencing.
Mizuhara’s descent into debt
Mizuhara falsely claimed that his total taxable income for 2022 was $136,865, despite failing to report an additional $4.1 million in income received through defrauding the bank. Additionally, the Japanese interpreter updated security protocols on Ohtani’s bank accounts that he helped open in Arizona back in 2018.
By updating the bank account’s security protocols to Mizuhara’s contact information instead of Ohtani’s, Mizuhara was able to verify wire transfer requests that were subsequently approved by Ohtani’s bank. He impersonated Ohtani more than 20 times by leveraging the updated contact information, leading to nearly $17 million in stolen funds from Ohtani.
Mizuhara’s actions are a result of accumulating gambling debt, beginning in September 2021 with an illegal bookmaker based in California, recording a net loss of $41 million. By shielding access to Ohtani’s accounts from others, under the guise of Ohtani wanting to keep his account private, Mizuhara was able to siphon roughly $17 million in an attempt to pay off his hefty debt.
Ohtani has already been cleared of any wrongdoing in this case and is considered a victim of Mizuhara committing bank fraud against him.
Back in March, the superstar baseball player released a statement through the Dodgers organization, saying, “I do want to make it clear that I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to a bookmaker. He has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies. All of this has been a complete lie.”
