Starz is making a gripping TV drama based on the real-life gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani’s former translator Ippei Mizuhara. Lionsgate Television is backing the high-profile project. The show will look into how Mizuhara supposedly stole millions from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar to pay off his growing gambling debts. This scandal shocked Major League Baseball and the sports world as a whole.
Starz is making a scripted drama about Mizuhara’s rise and fall as a character-driven story. It will follow his journey from being an unemployed drifter to Ohtani’s trusted right-hand man and an international figure before his shocking fall from grace. The show will look at Ohtani’s close friends, the growing number of financial crimes, and the investigation that finally uncovered the scheme to steal millions of dollars.
The logline says that the series will tell the “inside story” of the translator who got rare access to one of baseball’s biggest stars and is said to have abused that trust to pay for a huge, illegal gambling habit. Later, federal authorities decided that Ohtani was a victim. Prosecutors said Mizuhara stole money from Ohtani’s accounts and used it to pay off losses from illegal sports betting.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara in March 2024 after Ohtani’s agents said he stole millions of dollars from the team. This led to a big public scandal and a federal investigation. He pleaded guilty to charges like bank fraud and filing a false tax return in June 2024. He was sentenced to almost five years in federal prison and ordered to pay back tens of millions of dollars.
