Ippei Mizuhara, who was recently fired by the Dodgers because of illegal gambling allegations, has now been formally charged with bank fraud. According to the legal complaint, the transfers took place between November 2021 and January 2024.
The charges stem from the results of a federal investigation, which uncovered evidence that Mizuhara “unlawfully transferred more than $16m from Ohtani’s bank account to pay off gambling debts to an illegal bookmaking operation.”
Mizuhara previously served as Shohei Ohtani’s translator. He is due to appear in United States District Court in LA “in the coming days.”
Major League Baseball said in an official statement, “We are aware of the charges filed by the US Attorney’s Office against Mr. Mizuhara for bank fraud after a thorough federal investigation.
“According to that investigation, Shohei Ohtani is considered a victim of fraud and there is no evidence that he authorized betting with an illegal bookmaker.”
MLB went on to add that the league will decide whether to further investigate after criminal proceedings are finished.
The league said, “Further, the investigation did not find any betting on baseball by Mr. Mizuhara.
“Given the information disclosed today, and other information we have already collected, we will wait until resolution of the criminal proceeding to determine whether further investigation is warranted.”
United States Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada pointed out the likelihood that none of the transfers were authorized due to lack of evidence.
He said, “I want to emphasize this point: Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case.
“There is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Ohtani authorized the over $16 million of transfers from his account to the bookmakers.”
