New Audio Shows Shohei Ohtani’s Former Interpreter Impersonating Dodgers Star, Trying to Wire $200,000

Ohtani's former interpreter pled guilty to bank and tax fraud charges last June.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani talks with former translator Ippei Mizuhara
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani talks with former translator Ippei Mizuhara / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, pleaded guilty last spring to charges for bank and tax fraud after stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani, in part to pay off gambling debts he accumulated.

On Thursday, The Athletic published audio of Mizuhara impersonating Ohtani to push through a $200,000 wire transfer from one of Ohtani's accounts, a recording obtained by the Department of Justice.

During the audio, the bank representative asked who she was speaking with, to which Mizuhara could be heard saying in response, "Shohei Ohtani."

While impersonating Ohtani, Mizuhara claimed that the wire transaction was for a car loan for a friend. When asked by the bank representative if there would be future loans to the same friend, Mizuhara responded, "Uh, possibly."

In the court filing the audio was obtained from, prosecutors are reportedly recommending a sentence of almost five years for Mizuhara. Mizuhara is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6. His sentencing date has been postponed multiple times previously.

The U.S. Attorney’s office is expecting Mizuhara to pin the blame for his theft on an addiction to gambling, but U.S. attorney Jeff Mitchell refutes that notion.

“Even if defendant is addicted to gambling, it cannot fully explain defendant’s conduct because defendant used the stolen funds for numerous personal expenses that had nothing to do with gambling,” Mitchell wrote in a court filing Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, via The Athletic. “Ultimately, the government submits, the motivating factor behind defendant’s crimes was not a gambling addiction but rather greed.”


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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.