Ippei Mizuhara Says He Gambled and Stole From Ohtani Because He Was ‘Severely Underpaid’

More details emerged Thursday in the case against Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.

Mizuhara pleaded guilty in federal court this summer to bank fraud and filing a false tax return, admitting he stole close to $17 million from Ohtani to use for illegal gambling. His total gambling losses reached nearly $41 million. Prosecutors want to sentence him to 57 months on Feb. 6, while Mizuhara is asking for 18 months. He originally faced up to 33 years in federal prison.

The government’s stance, laid out in Thursday filings from assistant U.S. attorney Jeff Mitchell, is that Mizuhara needs to pay back $17 million to Ohtani and $1.1 million to the IRS, though they said Mizuhara doesn’t have the money to handle those debts. 

“To be clear, Mr. Ohtani is a victim,” Mitchell wrote. “Ultimately, the government submits, the motivating factor behind defendant’s crimes was not a gambling addiction but rather greed.”

Mizuhara submitted his letter to California district court judge John Holcomb Thursday asking for a shorter sentence and revealing more details about his experience working for Ohtani.

Mizuhara said he felt like he was “on call 24/7” handling the jobs a player would normally have several people doing, including grocery runs, errands, coordinating Ohtani’s training, taking his dog to the vet and groomer, fixing his bike, checking his mailbox, coordinating his marriage prenup and endorsements, and talking to his U.S. agent and mother. He said Ohtani paid him merely $11,000 annually. “I felt like I was getting severely underpaid but I was afraid to speak up for myself as I was on a one year contract every year and I didn’t want to upset them and end up getting fired,” he wrote.

Mizuhara said the Angels paid him $85,000 in 2018, $87,000 from 2019 to 2021, $99,611.16 in 2022, and $250,000 in 2023. He said he had to pay for rent in California and Japan, and cover his wife’s flights back and forth because she didn’t get her green card to permanently move to the U.S. until 2023. Mizuhara said he received offers for books, interviews, and commercials back in Japan, but Ohtani’s camp wouldn’t let him.

Mizuhara said he met Mathew Bowyer through one of Ohtani’s teammates in 2021, but didn’t know he was an illegal bookmaker until early 2024. “Being desperate for money at the time, I stupidly thought this might be an opportunity to help myself out financially and started to use his website for sports betting. And before I knew it, the results were the complete opposite,” Mizuhara wrote. He also said his wife’s struggle to get a green card kept her out of the U.S. for all of 2022, and he feels that gambling helped him deal with not seeing her for a year. “I feel terrible and really guilty for making her go through all of this,” he wrote. Mizuhara says both his wife and parents have watched Ohtani’s dog and cooked him food, and said his wife learned nail care to help the pitcher’s broken nails.

A representative for Ohtani and his current team, the Dodgers, declined to comment. An attorney for Mizuhara, a representative for the Angels, and assistant attorney Mitchell did not immediately reply.

The former interpreter wasn’t the only one who submitted letters Thursday; opinions also filed in from an expert in gambling disorders, a former colleague, and Mizuhara’s wife, mother, and father, as well as an ESPN feature about Mizuhara.

Mizuhara’s wife, Naomi, says she lost her hearing and developed alopecia due to stress during the time she was experiencing visa and family issues, and her husband helped her navigate her immigration and health problems. Mizuhara’s parents, Hidemasa and Chiharu, spoke to their son’s character, and both mentioned how he helped take care of his mother after a car accident three years ago.

Also on Thursday, The Athletic published audio obtained from the Justice Department where Mizuhara pretends to be Ohtani on a call with a bank. The former interpreter tells the bank agent that he is Ohtani, and the agent sends a two-factor authentication notification to Mizuhara’s personal cell. He tells her the $200,000 wire transfer is for a car loan for a friend, and that there might be more payments in the future.