LOS ANGELES — Ippei Mizuhara’s fleecing of Shohei Ohtani was straightforward for the most part. Ohtani’s former interpreter had access to a bank account full of Ohtani’s money, and he simply wrote checks, withdrew cash or wired funds whenever he made bets or needed to pay gambling debts.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud in June and was ordered to pay full restitution to his victims, which includes $16,975,010 to Ohtani, and $1,149,400 to the IRS. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 24 in federal court.
But apparently Mizuhara found other ways to steal from Ohtani while the two-way baseball star played for the Angels and after he signed with the Dodgers in December 2023. On one occasion, Mizuhara needed $60,000 worth of dental work, and Ohtani approved payment from a business account. Mizuhara, however, deposited the money into his personal bank account and paid the dentist from the Ohtani account he illegally controlled, prosecutors said.
And shortly after Ohtani joined the Dodgers, Mizuhara purchased $325,000 worth of baseball cards that he apparently hoped would increase in value now that his boss was wearing blue. Some of the collectible cards were signed, and Mizuhara purchased them from online resellers eBay and Whatnot, according to court documents.
The cards were seized from Mizuhara, and Ohtani had a hearing scheduled Dec. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to recover them.
The hearing is no longer necessary because prosecutors said in a court filing Monday that the cards — described by prosecutors as being in a “silver and black Panopply case” and a “gray Panopply case” — would be given to Ohtani when Mizuhara is sentenced.
“Ohtani holds a valid pre-existing interest in Forfeitable Property as title to the Forfeitable Property was vested in Ohtani at the time of the commission of the acts which give rise to the forfeiture,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Mizuhara’s “insatiable appetite for illegal sports betting,” as U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada described it, will result in a lengthy prison sentence and almost certain deportation to Japan, Mizuhara’s country of birth.
Mizuhara pretended to be Ohtani in calls from his phone to bank employees about the wire transfers, according to a 36-page complaint filed in April, and used biographical details from Ohtani’s life to pass security challenges.