Former Shohei Ohtani performer Ippei Mizuhara agrees to plead guilty to 2 counts in gambling scandal

Ippei Mizuhara agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to two charges related to the gambling scandal involving Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

Mizuhara, who was Ohtani’s longtime interpreter, was arrested earlier this spring as part of a massive and complex scandal that left him facing up to 30 years in prison. Mizuhara allegedly stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to cover Mizuhara’s illegal gambling losses, which totaled more than $40 million.

Mizuhara agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to two counts — bank fraud and filing a false tax return. The first charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, and the second could carry up to three years.

Mizuhara is expected to officially plead guilty next week.

Mizuhara formally turned himself in to authorities last month after being accused of stealing millions from Ohtani. He is said to have made 19,000 bets with a suspected illegal bookmaker between December 2021 and January 2024, which averages around 25 bets per day. In total, Mizuhara lost more than $40.5 million.

Mizuhara was Ohtani’s financial manager when the star moved to the United States in 2018. Mizuhara allegedly helped Ohtani open a bank account, and he posed as Ohtani and then changed the information in order to begin funneling money from the account. Ohtani’s agent also reportedly spoke to him exclusively through Mizuhara.

Mizuhara allegedly transferred weekly payments of $500,000 to the account of an associate of Mathew Boyer, who is also under federal investigation. That associate then transferred the money to accounts at Resorts World, a Las Vegas casino, and the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California. The scandal is believed to be part of a much larger operation in which 12 people have already been charged and convicted and several casinos have paid fines.

The associate in question, according to ESPN, was Ryan Boyajian, who is a cast member of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” Scott Sibella, the former chairman of Resorts World and MGM Grand, is also scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles, after pleading guilty to another sports gambling charge.

Ohtani denied knowledge of the scandal and said he knew about it like everyone else. Major League Baseball released a statement acknowledging that authorities consider Ohtani a victim in all of this. Ohtani, one of the best hitters in baseball so far this season, continues to play with the Dodgers in the wake of the scandal.