Just as Shohei Ohtani was beginning his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he found himself embroiled in a scandal due to illegal gambling activity by Ippei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara at the time was Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend. The two had been together since Ohtani’s rookie season with the Angels, which made Mizuhara joining the Dodgers organization a given once they landed the two-way star.
A federal investigation cleared Ohtani of any wrongdoing, and Mizuhara was eventually sentenced to 57 months in federal prison.
According to Tisha Thompson, Mizuhara began serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood Low on Monday:
Ippei Mizuhara, the disgraced former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, is in federal prison in Pennsylvania, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told ESPN on Monday.
Mizuhara, 40, was ordered to surrender to federal authorities by Monday. He is in custody at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood Low, a low-security facility, after being sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani.
Mizuhara initially had a surrender date of March 24, but a judge granted him an extension. He was given a new date of May 12, but that also was delayed. An explanation for both requests being granted was not made public.
The most damning piece of evidence against Mizuhara was an audio recording of him impersonating Ohtani during a phone conversation with a bank official.
On the call, Mizuhara states his name as “Shohei Ohtani” and claims a $200,000 wire transfer is being approved for a friend to purchase a car. The federal investigation discovered that Mizuhara had full access to Ohtani’s bank accounts and stole money without the superstar’s knowledge at any point.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara during the Seoul Series for his involvement and it was later determined that he stole roughly $17 million from Ohtani in order to pay off debts to a Southern California bookmaker.
Mizuhara also purchased several autographed Ohtani baseball cards from online resale platforms with the intention to resell them. Those cards have since been returned to Ohtani by a court order after they were seized by federal authorities.
Ippei Mizuhara guilty plea
Mizuhara pled guilty to bank and tax fraud in June 2024. In addition to being sentenced to nearly five years in prison, he was ordered to pay restitution to Ohtani.
The expectation is Mizuhara will be deported back to Japan once he serves the sentence.
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