Shohei Ohtani scandal: The 5 most surprising revelations of Ippei Mizuhara’s criminal complaint

Over the previous month or so, the world of baseball has been rumbling over the scandal round Shohei Ohtani and his fired former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. A scarcity of readability has solely elevated the curiosity — and hypothesis.

The weeks of typically conflicting reviews and unanswered questions created a hazy image that was thrown into as sharp definition as doable Thursday, when the U.S. authorities released its criminal complaint against Mizuhara. Mizuhara is accused of stealing more than $16 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star and faces up to 30 years in prison.

These numbers are solely the beginning of the wild allegations within the 37-page criticism in opposition to Mizuhara. Two issues specifically stand out: the brazenness of Mizuhara’s alleged crimes and the diploma of management he was given by the individuals who have been alleged to look out for Ohtani.

Listed here are the 5 most stunning revelations from a case that can dwell on for many years within the weirdest annals of baseball historical past:

1. Ippei Mizuhara’s playing losses totaled greater than $40 million

This all began as a result of ESPN obtained documentation of two $500,000 wire transfers from Ohtani to an affiliate of Mathew Bowyer, an allegedly unlawful bookie beneath federal investigation. Mizuhara was initially accused of stealing a complete of $4.5 million from Ohtani to repay Bowyer.

The true quantity, as alleged by the feds, turned out to be $16 million. However that was solely the beginning of how dangerous this all acquired for Mizuhara.

In complete, Mizuhara is alleged to have made 19,000 wagers with Bowyer between December 2021 and January 2024, averaging out to just about 25 bets per day. Bets allegedly ranged from $10 to $160,000, with a median quantity of $12,800. Data reportedly present Mizuhara to have gained a complete of $142,256,769.74 … and misplaced a complete of $182,935,206.68.

That equates to a internet lack of $40,678,436.94.

The criticism accommodates texts between Mizuhara, Bowyer and different associates about all this playing. The group continuously needed to coordinate on wire transfers despatched from a checking account owned by Ohtani, and there have been additionally quite a few requests from Mizuhara to “bump” his credit score restrict. It seems that Bowyer did so as a result of he knew of Mizuhara’s connection to Ohtani and since Mizuhara would ship $500,000 every week when he was in debt.

The criticism included this collection of messages between the tip of 2022 and the primary half of 2023, together with three in as many days:

In case you wished to draft up a poster of what an unfettered playing habit appears to be like like, you would do worse than simply these texts.

2. Ippei Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani on the telephone to cover alleged financial institution fraud

An infinite query looming as Ohtani’s camp accused Mizuhara of theft was “How may that amount of cash go lacking with out anybody noticing?” Because it seems, the individuals hung up on that query have been underestimating simply how a lot management Mizuhara had over Ohtani’s funds — and the lengths to which he was keen to go to protect it.

From the second Ohtani landed within the U.S. with Mizuhara in tow, Mizuhara was his monetary level particular person. In 2018 — seemingly throughout spring coaching, on condition that the pair have been in Arizona — Mizuhara allegedly joined Ohtani at a financial institution department and translated for him as Ohtani arrange an account.

That was reportedly the account by which Ohtani’s wage from the Angels was deposited (Ohtani acquired $42,269,259 from the Angels throughout his tenure) and over which Mizuhara asserted complete management.

Financial institution data reportedly present that the account was in Ohtani’s title, however the contact data linked to it was modified to Mizuhara’s telephone quantity and an nameless e mail deal with linked to Mizuhara. Transfers have been allegedly constructed from the account utilizing units and IP addresses related to Mizuhara.

Mizuhara allegedly went so far as pretending to be Ohtani when talking with financial institution staff, based on calls recorded by the financial institution:

Mizuhara reportedly made his first deposit from Ohtani’s account on Nov. 15, 2021, within the quantity of $40,010 to Xoom.com, a PayPal service.

3. Ippei Mizuhara used Ohtani’s cash to purchase $325K value of baseball playing cards

Mizuhara allegedly used the overwhelming majority of the cash stolen from Ohtani to repay his money owed to Bowyer, however he was apparently engaged on a baseball card resale aspect hustle, too.

The feds allegedly discovered greater than $325,000 in transactions on eBay and Whatnot involving the Ohtani checking account utilized by Mizuhara between January and March 2024. A member of the investigative workforce reportedly spoke with a membership worker who mentioned his workforce would put aside packages for Mizuhara that have been acquired beneath an alias.

The investigator ultimately procured a few of these packages and located … round 1,000 baseball playing cards, together with at the very least one for Ohtani:

The investigator concluded that Mizuhara bought these playing cards to resell at a later date.

4. Ippei Mizuhara’s bookie adopted Ohtani and his canine

It is a famously dangerous concept to owe tens of millions and tens of millions of {dollars} to an unlawful bookie for quite a lot of causes.

In Mizuhara’s case, Bowyer apparently went so far as finding Ohtani whereas he was strolling his canine, Dekopin, and threatening to method him to get Mizuhara’s contact data:

There weren’t any overt threats included within the criticism, however messages comparable to this one from Bowyer do not sound very pleasant:

That will have been after Bowyer’s dwelling was raided by the feds.

5. Ohtani’s agent talked to him solely by Ippei Mizuhara

To illustrate you’re a baseball agent who has a consumer who will sometime signal a contract value $700 million. To illustrate that consumer does not converse English fluently and wishes an interpreter to navigate life within the U.S. To illustrate that interpreter turns into the participant’s de facto supervisor. To illustrate that interpreter tells you your consumer has a “personal” checking account that not even the monetary managers you employed can entry. To illustrate that interpreter claims your consumer agreed to mortgage him tens of millions of {dollars} to repay an unlawful playing behavior.

At what level would you begin utilizing a special interpreter to confirm this data? In case your reply is someday earlier than or throughout that ultimate level, congratulations. You’re extra communicative than CAA’s Nez Balelo was with Ohtani.

Ohtani has claimed he knew nothing in regards to the brewing scandal till Mizuhara stood up in entrance of the Dodgers and defined the supposed state of affairs on March 20, 2024. Balelo’s camp had reportedly been interfacing with him solely by Mizuhara, who allegedly used his place to lie about what was being mentioned in each instructions.

The criticism bears that out, with Balelo telling investigators that he doesn’t make use of any people who converse Japanese however will often rent his personal interpreters to speak with shoppers. In Ohtani’s case, nevertheless, Balelo used solely Mizuhara as a result of he was at all times with Ohtani.

It seems that of their years-long historical past, Balelo has by no means really talked to Ohtani with out utilizing Mizuhara as a go-between.

The place it will get actually wild, nevertheless, is in what number of instances Balelo defined to some justifiably confused monetary managers that the Ohtani checking account managed by Mizuhara was kosher.

As an illustration, when one skilled bookkeeper had questions on this secret account:

Or when an expert monetary adviser retained by Balelo to deal with Ohtani’s American portfolio wished some primary data:

An accountant retained by Balelo additionally reportedly wished data on this account whereas determining Ohtani’s taxes and by no means acquired it. That accountant reportedly scheduled a gathering with Ohtani and Mizuhara, however solely Mizuhara confirmed up, claiming that Ohtani was sick. When requested in regards to the account, Mizuhara claimed that Ohtani wished it personal from everybody and indicated that it did not have any tax implications.

The account wound up having implications far past taxes.

Bonus: Mizuhara noticed the writing on the wall

This complete factor got here crashing down final month. Across the day Mizuhara was fired, he reportedly messaged Bowyer, who mentioned he did not imagine the claims that Mizuhara stole from Ohtani.

At that time, Mizuhara allegedly got here clear: