The amount of money that Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara misappropriated from the Dodgers slugger is allegedly much more significantly than previously realized.
Mizuhara has been charged with bank fraud by federal investigators after allegedly transferring over $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account to fund his illegal gambling, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced Thursday.
It had previously been alleged that Mizuhara siphoned $4.5 million from Ohtani to cover gambling debts.
“At this point Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” Estrada said, according to The Athletic, adding that Ohtani “has cooperated fully and completely” with the investigation.
Estrada said texts reviewed by investigators showed Mizuhara admitting to bookies that he was stealing from Ohtani.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Mizuhara was discussing a plea deal with federal authorities.
The report said that Mizuhara was able to steal the money from Ohtani by finagling the Dodgers star’s bank account so that there would not be notifications over the large withdrawals.
“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement after the scandal broke in March while the Dodgers were opening their season in South Korea.
Ohtani has not taken any questions from reporters about the matter since the scandal became public, but he did read a prepared statement denying that he made the bets or had any knowledge of what Mizuhara was doing with his money.
“Up until a couple of days ago, I did not know this was happening,” Ohtani said on March 25. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”
Ohtani continued, “I’m very saddened and shocked that someone I trusted has done this.”
Mizuhara worked with Ohtani since the Japanese star joined the Angels in 2018.
In addition to their professional relationship, the two were close friends.