Shohei Ohtani had something penciled in for Friday, October 25, long before the Los Angeles Dodgers secured their spot in the World Series. Long before he made more MLB history. Long before Freddie Freeman’s historic grand slam decided an intoxicating curtain raiser against the New York Yankees.
It is a 30-mile drive from Dodger Stadium to Santa Ana, California where, back in June, Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges.
Ohtani’s former interpreter – and close confidant – admitted to stealing nearly $17million from the MLB star to fund his spiraling gambling debts.
He is thought to have placed 19,000 wagers between December 2021 and January 2024 – an average of nearly 25 a day. He won $142m but lost more than $180m.
Mizuhara now faces a maximum punishment of 33 years in prison; his sentencing was slated for October 25 at 2pm PT – three hours before Jack Flaherty threw the first pitch of Game 1.
Ippei Mizuhara (L) was accused of stealing $17million from baseball icon Shohei Ohtani (R)
The Los Angeles Dodgers star signed a 10-year, $700million deal back in December 2023
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Last month, however, the hearing was postponed to December – at Mizuhara’s request. That cleared Ohtani’s diary. By Friday night, his only appointment was a first date with the Yankees.
Mizuhara’s guilty plea had already cleaned Ohtani’s slate. Major League Baseball closed its investigation and echoed the authorities’ findings: its biggest star was nothing more than a victim. Case ‘closed’.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, said they were ‘pleased that Shohei and the team can put this entire matter behind them and move forward in pursuit of a World Series title.’
Both statements rather undersold the mysterious web of debt and deceit that entangled the greatest player this sport has seen – perhaps since Babe Ruth.
Back in December 2023, the two-time MVP had signed the richest contract in team sports history when he joined the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700million deal. Within months, however, he was tied up with an illegal bookmaker, ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ and a Hollywood law firm whose clients range from Prince Andrew to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Ohtani stayed tight-lipped, except to protest his innocence. Through attorneys. And then via a 650-word statement in Japanese, when the 30-year-old said he was ‘saddened’ and ‘shocked’ by the ‘lies’ and betrayal of ‘trust’.
Earlier this year, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges in California
Ohtani is mobbed by journalists ahead of Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees
His words were translated into English by Dodgers staffer Will Ireton. That had been Mizuhara’s job ever since Ohtani joined Major League Baseball in 2018. He was his interpreter but also, it’s claimed, his trainer, chauffeur and best friend.
They shared a locker, they ate at the same table, and they sat beside one another on the bench. They have been compared to ‘peanut butter and jelly’.
Hence why questions lingered, even after Mizuhara was fired and Ohtani was formally cleared of any wrongdoing. The two-way star was exonerated in April but the case cast a shadow over his first season. Some fans still wonder: is there more to this story?
Earlier this week, Ohtani was involved in another record-breaking deal. The Japanese superstar is the only player in baseball history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.
He reached uncharted waters last month and the ball that Ohtani sent over the fence was recently put up for auction. It sold for $4.39million, smashing the previous highest fee for any sports ball.
It was an eye-watering illustration of Ohtani’s value to the Dodgers – and his sport. It was small change, though. At least compared to the figures sloshing between his bank account and the gambling underworld over recent years.
Ohtani, the authorities found, had no idea his old friend was dipping into his millions. And, back in November 2023, the two-way star was unaware that he was being watched, too. Mizuhara received a message that laid bare the dark thread running through this curious case. It was from ‘Bookmaker 1’; Ohtani was identified only as ‘Victim A’.
He is the only player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season
Mizuhara had been Ohtani’s interpreter and confidant since he joined Major League Baseball
‘Hey Ippie (sic), it’s 2 o’clock on Friday. I don’t know why you’re not returning my calls. I’m here in Newport Beach and I see [Victim A] walking his dog,’ it read. ‘I’m just gonna go up and talk to him and ask how I can get in touch with you since you’re not responding? Please call me back immediately.’
By then, authorities said, the transfers from Ohtani’s accounts had reached $500,000 a time. The first fraudulent transfer – for $40,000 – appeared two years earlier but agents joined dots all the way back to 2018, when Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Angels.
He had reportedly met Mizuhara in 2013. Five years later, they went together to a bank in Arizona. The interpreter helped Ohtani open an account and then impersonated his friend to hoodwink the bank into giving him access to the funds.
Another key twist came in 2021, when Mizuhara met Mathew Bowyer at a poker game in San Diego. Before long, he had begun gambling with the illegal bookmaker. He soon found himself in debt.
By the end of 2022, it’s said, the interpreter owed more than $1million. Soon he was reportedly in the red for $4m. At some point, the interpreter altered the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account so it was linked to his phone number. That way the bank would call him to verify wire transfers.
Last October, Bowyers home was raided by federal agents, shortly before Ohtani signed the largest contract in baseball history. Mizuhara moved with him across Los Angeles and soon his problems followed Ohtani from the Angels to the Dodgers, too.
Mizuhara allegedly wired cash to Ryan Boyajian from ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’
A giant mural of Ohtani has been painted on a hotel in Little Tokyo, a neighborhood in LA
Ohtani’s name was reportedly found on two wire transfers to Bowyer totaling $1million. The initial explanation? He had made the payments to cover Mizuhara’s debts – initially thought to be around $4.5million.
All the while, Los Angeles was preparing for the start of the 2024 regular season. The Dodgers’ opener – against the Padres – was held in the South Korean capital, Seoul. Before the game on March 20, a bomb threat was made against Ohtani. Police scoured the Gocheok Sky Dome before concluding it was a hoax. But inside the Dodgers clubhouse, another fuse had been lit.
The game went ahead and Mizuhara sat in the dugout. Later that night, though, the interpreter confessed that he had a gambling addiction. Club executive Andrew Friedman reportedly told his team that Ohtani had covered for his friend.
Within hours, though, Mizuhara’s story began to unravel. Ohtani’s lawyers claimed they had ‘discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.’
The statement came via Berk Brettler LLP, a hotshot Hollywood law firm who represented some of the biggest names in showbiz. It’s claimed Ohtani rumbled Mizuhara after asking what had been said in the clubhouse.
The baseball star hired Berk Brettler, founded by Andrew Brettler (L) and Blair Berk (R)
The Los Angeles superstar is flanked by his new interpreter Will Ireton on Thursday
The interpreter was fired by the Dodgers and then, the following month Mizuhara was charged with stealing more than $16m from Ohtani ‘to finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting’.
A few weeks later, it was claimed that Bowyer’s associate – to whom Mizuhara had wired money – was Ryan Boyajian, a cast member of ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’. The irony.
Few athletes guard the privacy of their personal life as closely as Ohtani. Now he is forever tied to reality TV.
During spring training, Ohtani announced his marriage to former basketball player Mamiko Tanaka on Instagram. None of his teammates even knew he had a girlfriend.
Glimpses behind the curtain of Ohtani’s life are rare and that only adds to mystery of this case. So does his reliance on an interpreter. But the language barrier has never hampered Ohtani at the plate. Nor did this remarkable story derail his hopes of leading the Dodgers to glory.
The World Series will be wrapped up by early November. A few weeks later, Mizuhara will learn his fate and this curious chapter of Ohtani’s career might finally close.