Federal prosecutors released a detailed complaint on Thursday that claimed Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, orchestrated a sprawling scheme over years to steal $16 million of the baseball star’s money to feed his gambling addiction.
The money that Mizuhara took from Ohtani came directly from an account where Ohtani’s baseball salary was paid, the authorities said. While Mizuhara used the money to place bets with an illegal bookmaker, there is no indication that Mizuhara bet on baseball, nor that Ohtani knew about it, they said.
“There’s no indication Mr. Ohtani authorized the $16 million from his account to the bookmakers,” said E. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
The authorities charged Mizuhara with bank fraud, for which the maximum penalty is 30 years in prison. The complaint contains a message sent by Mizuhara in which he admits to a bookmaker that he stole the money from Ohtani.
“Technically I did steal from him,” Mizuhara said. “It’s all over for me.”
The account provided by the authorities largely confirms what Ohtani told the public in late March, shortly after reports first surfaced that $4.5 million had been transferred from Ohtani’s account to Mizuhara. At that time, he explained how he believed Mizuhara had stolen money from him and that he did not bet on sports himself.
Estrada described Ohtani as the victim of a “fraud on a massive scale” as Mizuhara exploited his access and the fact that Ohtani did not speak English to take advantage of the star.
“I want to emphasize this point,” Estrada said. “Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case.”
The release of the complaint comes a day after The New York Times reported that Mizuhara’s lawyer and federal prosecutors were negotiating a plea deal, that Ohtani had been interviewed by the authorities and that prosecutors had uncovered evidence Mizuhara stole more than the $4.5 million he was initially accused of taking.
Mizuhara will be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles as soon as Friday. He is expected to enter a not guilty plea, a formal step that will take place as federal prosecutors and his lawyer, Michael Freedman, continue to negotiate a deal. Mr. Freedman declined to comment.
The allegations that Mizuhara had stolen money from Ohtani surfaced last month when Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers were in Seoul to open the season against the San Diego Padres.
The investigation proceeded remarkably quickly for a federal probe — the allegations against Mizuhara surfaced only three weeks ago — a pace investigators said was partly because of the desire to avoid having American sports tarred by the implication of a possible gambling scandal involving one of its biggest stars. Interest in Ohtani has been especially intense since he signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December.
Tyler Hatcher, special agent in charge with the I.R.S. Criminal Investigation unit who was involved with the case, said that “protecting sports at the highest levels” is a priority of the federal government.
Estrada said the investigation moved so rapidly because of high public interest and questions that had been swirling about Ohtani’s connection to the case. He suggested that the government marshaled more resources for the case because of its high-profile nature.
Estrada said that while Mizuhara took the money from Ohtani’s account to place bets, on the rare occasions that he won money, he transferred the winnings to a different account. The authorities said they had obtained recordings of calls between Mizuhara and the bank that had Ohtani’s account in which Mizuhara pretended that he was Ohtani.
Among the messages in the complaint was an exchange Mizuhara had with the person with whom he placed the bets.
“Have you seen the reports?” Mizuhara wrote the bookmaker after articles appeared in March.
The bookmaker responded, in part: “Obviously you didn’t steal from him. I understand it’s a cover job, I totally get it.”
“Technically I did steal from him,” Mizuhara said. “It’s all over for me.”
