Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has just been charged with a felony ... after federal prosecutors say they discovered he stole nearly $20 million from the MLB superstar to, in part, pay off his massive gambling debts.
The United States Department of Justice just announced the filing ... saying at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday they were formally hitting Mizuhara with one count of bank fraud.
Prosecutors say he faces a maximum of up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
According to the DOJ, an investigation into allegations that Mizuhara had stolen from Ohtani revealed Ippei snatched some of the Dodgers star's funds via an account he had helped the two-way player set up back in 2018.
Authorities say Mizuhara illegally accessed the account after amassing a gambling debt. They said he then wired transfers from it totaling around $16 million to bookmakers. They added that from January 2024 to March 2024, he also used the account to buy roughly $325,000 worth of baseball cards.
The DOJ said during its investigation, they found Ohtani had no knowledge of what was going on.
"In an interview last week with law enforcement," the feds said in a statement, "Ohtani denied authorizing Mizuhara’s wire transfers. Ohtani provided his cellphone to law enforcement, who determined that there was no evidence to suggest that Ohtani was aware of, or involved in, Mizuhara’s illegal gambling activity or payment of those debts."
Prosecutors said they believe Mizuhara never made any bets on baseball.
For Ohtani's part, he's been adamant throughout this entire process that he committed no wrongdoing ... saying in a press conference last month, "I'm very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this."
Mizuhara has a court hearing "in the near future," the feds said.