Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison

Ippei Mizuhara was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Thursday for stealing about $17 million from Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, according to ESPN. Mizuhara was Ohtani’s interpreter and used the money to repay gambling debts.

U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb gave Mizuhara a 57-month sentence and three years of supervised release. He is also ordered to pay nearly $17 million in restitution to Ohtani and $1.1 million to the IRS.

Mizuhara was ordered to surrender to authorities by March 24. Michael G. Freedman, Mizuhara’s attorney said he expects his client to be deported to Japan.

“The magnitude of the theft — $17 million — in my view, is shockingly high,” Holcomb said. “I hope that Mr. Mizuhara will be able to repay that sum. That remains to be seen.”

Last year, ESPN revealed that Ippei Mizuhara had sent millions in wire transfers from Ohtani’s account to an illegal bookmaker. The Dodgers fired him in March, and he pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return in June. Mizuhara admitted he placed about 19,000 bets with the bookie over a two-year period and accumulated over $40 million in debt.

“I want to say I am truly sorry to Mr. Ohtani for what I have done,” Mizuhara said in court.

More on Ippei Mizuhara and Shohei Ohtani

After the Dodgers fired Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani commented on the situation. “On a personal note,” Ohtani said through a new interpreter, “I’m very sad and shocked that someone who I’ve trusted has done this.”

Ohtani first learned about the gambling when Mizuhara addressed the Dodgers after their opening game in South Korea. “During the team meeting, obviously Ippei was speaking English but I didn’t have a translator by my side,” Ohtani said. “But even with that, I kind of understood what was going on and started to feel there was something amiss. Prior to the meeting, I was told by Ippei, ‘Let’s talk one-on-one after the meeting in the hotel.’ So I waited. So up until that team meeting, I didn’t know Ippei had a gambling addiction and was in massive debt.

“And it was revealed to me in that meeting that Ippei admitted that he was sending money, using my account, to the bookmaker. At that moment, obviously it was an absurd thing that was happening, and I contacted my representatives at that point. When I finally was able to talk to my representatives, that’s when my representatives found out Ippei had been lying the whole time. And that’s when I began contacting the Dodgers and my lawyers. The Dodgers and the lawyers at that moment found out as well that they’d been lied to.”

Ohtani joined the Dodgers last year after spending his first six MLB seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. He won his third MVP award and helped the Dodgers win the World Series.