A television drama about the gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, is in development by Starz, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The show will tell “the inside story of Shohei Ohtani’s translator Ippei Mizuhara, who journeys from unemployed drifter to international icon only to find himself tangled in a gambling scandal that rocked the sports world.”
It will also touch on the relationship between Mizuhara and Ohtani, which dates back to Ohtani’s rookie season with Japan’s Nippon-Ham Fighters. when he was 18 years old.
In June, Mizuhara began serving a 57-month prison sentence for stealing nearly $17 million to pay off gambling debts while employed by Ohtani. Mizuhara, 40, was charged with bank fraud and tax fraud, for which he faced up to 33 years in prison.
The $17 million is the sum Mizuhara was ordered to pay Ohtani in restitution for the $40.3 million in net losses he ran up from 19,000 wagers made with bookmaker Mathew Bowyer during a period between December 2021 and January 2024.
As Ohtani’s interpreter, de facto handler and friend since the Los Angeles Dodgers star came to the U.S. in 2018, Mizuhara covered his losses by secretly withdrawing funds from the bank account that received his client’s MLB salary, until it all fell apart after the Dodgers’ 2024 season opener.
Mizuhara went to great lengths to preserve his access to both Ohtani and his money, including impersonating him while calling a bank to send his bookie a six-figure wire transfer. Foreign players often depend on their interpreters for more than just baseball, and Mizuhara’s influence reached the point that Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, spoke to his client only through Mizuhara, granting him a high degree of control over Ohtani’s finances.
From the moment he was caught, Mizuhara claimed he had a gambling addiction, though prosecutors disputed that characterization by noting a lack of gambling history until he started stealing from Ohtani.
Alex Convery, who wrote the 2023 movie “Air” about Michael Jordan’s relationship with Nike, will be the showrunner and writer. “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” director Justin Lin will serve as the show’s director. Sportswriter Albert Chen is a co-executive producer.
No details about a potential release date have been announced.
