A former interpreter to Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, Ippei Mizuhara, has been sentenced to 57 months (almost five years) in prison after he stole around $17 million from his ex-employer to pay off debts he built up from gambling.
The 57-month sentence for Mizuhara was issued by U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb, with the latter also dishing out supervised release for three years. On top of that, Mizuhara is also being ordered to pay Ohtani around $17 million in restitution. Another $1.1 million has to be paid to the IRS. (RELATED: ESPN Said They Were No Longer Getting Political … So Is It Time For Them To Fire This Absolute Idiot Of An Employee?)
“I want to say I am truly sorry to Mr. Ohtani for what I have done,” said 40-year-old Mizuhara in court.
Mizuhara has to give himself up to the police by March 24 to start his prison sentence, per the order of Judge Holcomb. Michael G. Freedman, the lawyer of Mizuhara, said the expectations are that the Japanese citizen will be deported back to his country in the future.
BREAKING: Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for MLB star Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison on Thursday on charges related to stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers player. pic.twitter.com/y9gW71Cq06
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) February 6, 2025
Mizuhara was bombarded by a mob of press members following his sentence.
Ippei Mizuhara gets mobbed by cameras and media members after he was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in the $17M fraud case targeting #Dodgers star Shohei #Ohtani https://t.co/Dcpjs6Ym0m #Ohtani#水原一平 #水原 #大谷翔平 #ドジャース #Dodgers 水原一平被告に拘禁刑4年9か月 pic.twitter.com/xKSB1dwzPn
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) February 6, 2025
Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers in March 2024 following an investigation by ESPN that uncovered him sending millions of dollars via wire transfers from Ohtani‘s bank account to an illegal bookmaker. Later in June, he pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and filing a false tax return.
Ohtani‘s former interpreter admitted to placing around 19,000 illegal bets over a period of two years, racking up debt of more than $40 million.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
