Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter and best friend Ippei Mizuhara is in negotiations to plead guilty to accusations that he stole money from the superstar in order to pay off $4.5 million in sports gambling debts, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Mizuhara is facing federal criminal charges for his actions, ESPN reported.
The guilty plea in front of a federal judge, the New York Times reported, could confirm what Ohtani said in a press conference in March in which he stated he had no knowledge about the alleged funds.
Ohtani said in the same press conference that he had never gambled on sports. Mizuhara is alleged to have lost the immense sum wagering on soccer, basketball and other sports unrelated to baseball.
Federal authorities said they think they have evidence that Mizuhara was able to change Ohtani’s bank account settings so he wouldn’t receive alerts or confirmations about any transactions, the New York Times reported.
Ohtani has denied any wrongdoing on the matter, and Mizuhara has upheld that assertion. This is despite initial murkiness regarding the story — which is due in large part to Mizuhara, as Ohtani’s interpreter, relaying and potentially distorting all messaging to representatives and the media.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf,” Ohtani said through a different interpreter in his aforementioned press conference. “And I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports. Up until a couple days ago, I didn’t know this was happening.”
Mizuhara had been Ohtani’s primary confidant dating back to his days with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, when they met during Ohtani’s rookie season. Ohtani was just 18-years-old.
Mizuhara was side-by-side with Ohtani during major life decisions, trained with the two-way superstar and would even cook dinner for the mercurial talent — one who famously lived in dorm rooms despite making millions in salary and endorsement deals in Japan.
