Shohei Ohtani’s disgraced former performer faces a maximum sentence of 33 years in prison after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud charges.
Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty in federal court in California on Tuesday following the first of Major League Baseball’s two massive betting scandals in 2024. Mizuhara’s guilty plea came hours after MLB issued a lifetime ban to Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for betting on baseball.
Authorities say there was no evidence that Ohtani was involved in, or even aware of, Mizuhara’s gambling problem.
The former performer is accused of exploiting his relationship with Ohtani while stealing millions from his private bank account. At times, Mizuhara even posed as Ohtani to funnel Ohtani’s money to illegal gambling houses.
MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from betting on baseball, legally or illegally, and also prohibits them from betting at illegal sportsbooks. Mizuhara did not bet on baseball, but preferred to bet on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college soccer.
Ippei Mizuhara is seen leaving a federal court in Los Angeles after pleading guilty to fraud.
Ohtani (center) and Mizuhara (right) began working together with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mizuhara’s winning bets totaled more than $142 million, which he deposited into his own bank account instead of Ohtani’s.
However, his losing bets were around $183 million, a net loss of nearly $41 million.
Mizuhara helped Ohtani open a bank account in 2018 and began stealing money from that account in 2021, according to the plea agreement. At one point, Mizuhara changed the associated security protocols, email, and phone number so that calls went directly to him, not Ohtani, when the back attempted to verify bank transfers. Mizuhara admitted to impersonating Ohtani at the bank about 24 times, according to the agreement.
Mizuhara also admitted to falsifying his 2022 tax returns, underreporting his income by $4 million.