Shohei Ohtani Translator Charged With Bank Fraud, Stole Millions More Than Initially Reported

It was revealed on Wednesday that Shohei Ohtani was not aware that his longtime translator Ippei Mizuhara was using the Dodgers star’s money to rack up millions of dollars in gambling debt.

The initial amount of money that was reported to have been taken from Ohtani by Mizuhara was thought to be around $4.5 million.

However, on Thursday, federal authorities revealed that Shohei Ohtani’s translator actually stole more than $16 million from the MLB slugger.

ESPN baseball reporter Alden Gonzalez now reports that Mizuhara has been officially charged with bank fraud after it was discovered he transferred more than $16 million from Ohtani’s account to an alleged illegal sports book.

One of the top questions now being asked is how Ippei Mizuahara, 39, was able to siphon so much money from Shohei Ohtani’s account without him being aware of it.

The answer, according to Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, “Evidence reportedly indicates that once Mizuhara had access to Ohtani’s bank account, he changed the settings so the star would not be notified about transactions.”

A press release by the Department of Justice, issued on Thursday, sheds more light.

“In 2018, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani, who didn’t speak English, to a bank branch in Arizona to assist Ohtani in opening the account and translated for Ohtani when setting up the account details,” it reads. “Ohtani’s salary from playing professional baseball was deposited into this account and he never gave Mizuhara control of this or any of his other financial accounts, according to the affidavit. Mizuhara allegedly told Ohtani’s U.S.-based financial professionals, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani denied them access to the account.

“In September 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book and, several months later, started losing substantial sums of money, the affidavit states. During this time, the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account allegedly was changed to link the account to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address connected to Mizuhara.

“Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation.

“From January 2024 to March 2024, he also allegedly used this same account to purchase via eBay and Whatnot approximately 1,000 baseball cards – at a cost of approximately $325,000 – and had them mailed to Mizuhara under an alias, ‘Jay Min,’ and mailed to the clubhouse for Ohtani’s current MLB team.”

Shohei reportedly provided law enforcement his cellphone last week during an interview in which he denied any knowledge of Mizuhara’s wire transfers.

“Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada said on Thursday.