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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, is scheduled to surrender to authorities Monday and begin his federal prison sentence on charges related to stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers star baseball player to pay gambling debts.
Mizuhara was sentenced in February, nearly a year after the gambling scandal surfaced, to nearly five years in prison.
The 40-year-old Mizuhara admitted to fraudulently transferring the money from Ohtani's account for more than two years to pay his gambling debts. He also impersonated Ohtani on two occasions in calls to the bank, according the plea agreement in the case.
He was sentenced to 57 months in prison for one count of bank fraud. He was convicted on a second count, for subscribing to a false tax return, and sentenced to 36 months. Both sentences were to be served concurrently.
Mizuhara was free on $25,000 bail since he was sentenced.
Additionally, Mizuhara was sentenced to three years supervised release and ordered to pay more than $18 million in restitution. It included nearly $17 million to Ohtani, more than $1 million to the IRS and court fines.
From November 2021 to March 2024, Mizuhara transferred nearly $17 million from Ohtani's bank account to associates of a bookmaker in more than 40 wires without Ohtani's permission, according to the plea agreement.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to the federal charges in June 2024. He worked with the Los Angeles Angels as Ohtani's interpreter and continued in the same role with the Dodgers. He was fired in March 2024 after the gambling scandal surfaced.
Ohtani addressed the scandal at the time during a press briefing, saying in a prepared statement through an interpreter, "I am very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this."
