Lights! Camera! Action! As in, a lot of action, almost 19,000 bets in total, virtually all of it of the illegal variety, one way or another.
Yes, the Shohei Ohtani sports betting scandal — well, really the Ippei Mizuhara sports betting scandal, but that’s not selling streaming subscriptions — is coming to a flat screen near you.
As reported by The Ankler, Lionsgate TV has sold a show based on the goings-on.
“It has sold. Can’t say to whom because we’re still negotiating the deal. But the momentum around it just grew and the auspices are fantastic,” Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate’s TV Group’s chair and chief creative, told the Hollywood newsletter. “It’s bananas how big he is. When we can announce, we will, and we can’t wait to get started on writing it and really diving in — we had a ton of research done; all of it is wild. Most people don’t even know the full story. And there’s probably different opinions about the truth, which is never a bad thing for this kind of show.”
As for that truth …
A sordid tale
Mizuhara, who’d been Ohtani’s right-hand man and interpreter since the superstar touched down in MLB in 2018, pulled off a heist that would make the Ocean’s Eleven crew blush. Using his all-access pass to Ohtani’s life, Mizuhara went full method actor, literally playing Ohtani on phone calls with the bank while siphoning nearly $17 million from his accounts.
From December 2021 to January 2024, our anti-hero placed roughly 19,000 bets, ranging from a “one of us!” $10 to a jaw-dropping $160,000 wager. He “won” $142 million … but lost $182 million. All this action went through an illegal bookmaker in California who was already on the feds’ radar.
An important plot point: There is zero evidence Mizuhara ever bet on baseball, which would’ve triggered a whole different level of drama under MLB rules.
The scandal exploded in March 2024, with perfect timing for some international intrigue, as the Dodgers opened their season in South Korea. Mizuhara initially tried to spin it that Ohtani knew about the payments — unreliable narrator alert! — but eventually came clean, admitting he’d betrayed his friend and employer. Both the feds and MLB investigated, and, spoiler: Ohtani was deemed completely in the clear, just a victim of his trusted interpreter’s gambling spiral.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return. On Feb. 6, a judge handed down the verdict: fifty-seven months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, plus nearly $17 million in restitution to Ohtani and another $1.1 million to the IRS. He has until June 16 to report to prison, after which he may be deported back to Japan.
As for Ohtani? The superstar’s reputation emerged unscathed, with both law enforcement and MLB confirming he was nothing more than the victim in this wild tale of friendship, betrayal, and approximately 19,000 bad decisions.
