Ippei Mizuhara, the former translator for Shohei Ohtani who was fired late last month amid allegations he stole millions of dollars from the baseball star’s bank account to cover debts that Mizuhara owed to an illegal bookmaker, is in negotiations to plead guilty to federal crimes in connection with the purported theft, according to three people briefed on the matter.
The investigation, which began about three weeks ago after news of the alleged theft broke while Ohtani’s team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, was opening its season with two games in South Korea, is rapidly nearing a conclusion, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is continuing.
A guilty plea from Mizuhara before a federal judge could confirm the account that Ohtani gave to reporters two weeks ago, in which he said he had no knowledge of what happened to the money.
Those briefed on the matter claim that prosecutors have uncovered evidence that Mizuhara may have stolen more money from Ohtani than the $4.5 million he was initially accused of pilfering, the people said. In particular, authorities think they have evidence that Mizuhara was able to change the settings on Ohtani’s bank account so Ohtani would not receive alerts and confirmations about transactions, the three people said.
Ohtani’s lawyers initially alerted federal authorities about the alleged theft, and Ohtani pledged publicly to cooperate with the federal investigation and one being conducted by Major League Baseball. According to one of the people briefed on the investigation, federal authorities interviewed Ohtani to learn more about his relationship with Mizuhara.
Little is known about where Mizuhara has been since the Dodgers fired him. Upon returning to California from South Korea, Mizuhara was stopped by law enforcement officials after getting off the plane, the three people said. He was not arrested.
Mizuhara has hired Michael Freedman, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who specializes in white-collar criminal defense. Freedman declined to comment.
The investigation has been jointly led by the Los Angeles offices of the IRS’ criminal division and the Department of Homeland Security, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesperson for Ohtani, referred to the player’s detailed explanation he gave to the media two weeks ago.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
