"Give Back the Baseball Cards I Bought with My Own Money" Ohtani Files Another Lawsuit Against Former Interpreter Who Stole 23 Billion Won

Purchased Baseball Cards with Money Secretly Withdrawn from Account
Former Interpreter Bought Cards Worth 450 Million Won

Interpreter Mizuhara Ippei, who was caught secretly withdrawing money from the bank account of Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) in Major League Baseball to use as gambling funds, has been sued again. Ohtani filed a lawsuit against Mizuhara demanding the return of baseball cards he purchased with his own money. On the 29th, foreign media including the AP reported that Mizuhara bought baseball cards worth approximately $325,000 (about 450 million KRW) online using money secretly taken from Ohtani's bank account.

"Give Back the Baseball Cards I Bought with My Own Money" Ohtani Files Another Lawsuit Against Former Interpreter Who Stole 23 Billion Won

Mizuhara was born in Japan but grew up in California and has a history of playing soccer in high school. It is known that he formed a connection with Ohtani while working as an English interpreter for American players on Ohtani’s Japanese team, the Nippon-Ham Fighters. When Ohtani signed with the Angels at the end of 2017, Mizuhara became his personal interpreter. Mizuhara was considered a companion like family, accompanying Ohtani not only to MLB games but also in his private life.

Acquaintances testified that "the two were rarely seen apart." Mizuhara helped with all aspects of daily life, including visa, driver's license, phone activation, rental contracts, driving, and playing catch, and all matters related to Ohtani’s media management were handled through Mizuhara. Moreover, it is a well-known anecdote that Mizuhara’s father, who runs a Japanese restaurant, personally managed Ohtani’s diet.

However, during the Major League Seoul Series held at Gocheok Sky Dome last March, Mizuhara was fired amid allegations of illegal gambling and theft. According to the U.S. prosecutor’s investigation, Mizuhara was found to have withdrawn about $17 million (approximately 23.74 billion KRW) from Ohtani’s account to engage in illegal sports gambling and was indicted in April on bank fraud charges. He is also accused of failing to report additional income of $4.1 million (about 5.726 billion KRW) when filing his 2022 income with the IRS, thus not reporting his total income. Through a plea agreement with prosecutors, he agreed to return the $17 million gambling funds to Ohtani and pay a total of $1,149,400 (about 1.65 billion KRW) in taxes, interest, and fines to the IRS. Mizuhara is scheduled for sentencing in January next year. The maximum sentences for bank fraud and false income reporting charges are 30 years and 3 years in prison, respectively.