LOS ANGELES — Ippei Mizuhara appeared in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Friday and surrendered to authorities. He was released on a $25,000 bond and will return to court for the next hearing on May 9.
Mizuhara, who had shackles around his ankles and was dressed in a suit with no tie, was ordered to surrender his passport, was barred from gambling and from entering casinos, and was instructed not to have any contact with Shohei Ohtani, the star baseball player from whom he is accused of stealing roughly $16 million. Judge Maria Audero also ordered that Mizuhara attend a program to treat gambling addiction and that he seek employment and remain employed.
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The shackles were ultimately removed at the request of Mizuhara’s attorney, Michael G. Freedman. In a statement, Freedman said that Mizuhara “is continuing to cooperate with the legal process and is hopeful that he can reach an agreement with the government to resolve this case as quickly as possible so that he can take responsibility.”
The statement also noted that Mizuhara “wishes to apologize to Mr. Ohtani, the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and his family. As noted in court, he is also eager to seek treatment for his gambling.”
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Mizuhara’s Friday appearance at the Roybal Federal Building comes on the heels of the Thursday filing of a criminal complaint against the former Ohtani interpreter, who was fired by the Dodgers on March 20. Federal prosecutors charged Mizuhara with felony bank fraud after an investigation discovered he transferred more than $16 million out of Ohtani’s bank accounts. The maximum sentence is 30 years in prison.
Mizuhara used the money “largely to finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports gambling,” United States attorney Martin Estrada said during a news conference in Los Angeles.
According to the complaint, Mizuhara manipulated Ohtani’s bank accounts beginning in 2021, around the time Mizuhara began wagering on sports. Mizuhara controlled an account that collected Ohtani’s baseball salary. He shielded access to the account from others in Ohtani’s orbit saying the player wanted the account to be private. Mizuhara also impersonated Ohtani in conversations with bank officials, prosecutors said.
Mizuhara and Ohtani met in 2013 when Ohtani was playing in Japan and Mizuhara was working as an interpreter for American players on the Nippon Ham Fighters. When Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, Mizuhara joined him as his interpreter, employed by the Angels. Ohtani also employed him as his assistant and to handle some day-to-day responsibilities — which ultimately included helping Ohtani set up bank accounts and involving himself in other areas of the two-way star’s financial affairs.
Required reading
- What Ippei Mizuhara’s guilty plea negotiations could mean for Shohei Ohtani
- Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, charged with bank fraud and stealing more than $16M
- Inside the ‘very predatory’ world of illegal betting that lured Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter
(Top photo: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)