Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter is under federal surveillance.
Ippei Mizuhara, who was fired by the Dodgers in March for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from Ohtani to cover sports gambling debts, is “in negotiations” to plead guilty to federal crimes. According to a report in Wednesday’s New York Times.
TMZ reported this, citing law enforcement officials. Ohtani was a victim of fraud and said he knew nothing about the scheme, which took at least $4.5 million of the Dodgers superstar’s funds.
The investigation, which was handled by the IRS Criminal Division’s Los Angeles office, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, is nearly complete, the Times said.
It turned out that Mr. Mizuhara may have changed his bank account settings to prevent the two-time MVP from receiving notifications about transactions made.
The former Dodgers interpreter may have stolen even more than the $4.5 million that was originally thought to be part of the theft charge, the Times reported.
According to TMZ, Mizuhara is scheduled to be indicted in the next few days, but it is unclear what specific crime he will be charged with.
Suwon’s allegation of theft was discovered during the MLB opener in Seoul, South Korea, where Ohtani and the Dodgers faced the Padres.
The Los Angeles Times reported on March 20 that Otani was the victim of Mizuhara’s alleged theft totaling millions of dollars.
Immediately after that, ESPN reported that Mizuara was made available to the network by Ohtani’s representative and said that Ohtani had paid money to illegal California bookmaker Matthew Bowyer to cover the interpreter’s gambling debts. , reported that the account was provided.
However, Otani’s representative quickly “denied” Mizuhara’s statements, stating that Otani had no knowledge of gambling or Mizuhara’s debts.
West Hollywood law firm Burke Buttler told the Post in March, “In the course of responding to recent media interviews, we learned that Shohei was the victim of a grand theft, and we are reviewing this matter with authorities.” “I have decided to hand over the body to him,” he said in a statement. 20.
Mizuhara, who had worked with Ohtani in the United States since the two-way player signed with the Angels in 2018, was immediately fired by the Dodgers and Will Ireton replaced him as Ohtani’s translator.
Amid the scandal, key parts of Mizuala’s biography published in the Angels’ media guide have been called into question, the Red Sox have denied he ever worked for the team, and the University of California, Riverside has announced that the player attended the school. He said there was no record of it happening. school.
Otani denies knowledge of sports betting or Mizuhara’s conduct.
“This is all a complete lie,” Ohtani told a press conference through a new interpreter, five days after the story was first reported.
“I didn’t know this was happening until a few days ago,” Ohtani said through his new interpreter, Will Ireton. “Ippei stole money from my account and lied to me.
“I would like to clarify that I have never bet on sports or intentionally sent money to a bookmaker.”
The Otani camp has previously said it contacted authorities as soon as it learned of the alleged theft, but it was unclear which authorities were involved.
According to the New York Times, Ohtani is being questioned over his relationship with Mizuhara.
In late March, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced the league’s own investigation into the criminal allegations, saying he hoped it would be a “short-term” investigation.
“Given the way the story unfolds, it’s important to verify Mr. Ohtani’s statements in terms of assuring fans of the integrity of the game, and it’s really a no-brainer,” Manfred said.
Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers this offseason.
He has three home runs and an OPS of .333/.369/.650 in his first 14 games with his new team.
