As Shohei Ohtani was beginning his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he and former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara found themselves at the center of an illegal sports gambling scandal.
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 his debts to a Southern California bookmaker. A federal investigation cleared Ohtani of any betting and knowledge of Mizuhara’s actions.
Mizuhara pled guilty to bank and tax fraud last June. He was sentenced to nearly five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution to Ohtani.
Mizuhara was scheduled to begin serving his time on Monday but had his surrender date pushed back for undisclosed reasons, via ESPN’s Tisha Thompson:
According to the Bureau of Prisons inmate database, Mizuhara was not in custody as of Monday night. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California confirmed that Mizuhara’s surrender date, which was March 24, was pushed back but did not provide any additional details. The new date, as well as the reason for the delay, are under court seal and not available for public review.
Mizuhara faced a maximum sentence of 33 years and the expectation is he will be deported after he serves his time in prison.
In addition to stealing millions of dollars to pay off his gambling debts, Mizuhara 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’s history with Shohei Ohtani
Prior to the scandal, Mizuhara had served as Ohtani’s interpreter since the two-way star made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018.
Will Ireton replaced Mizuhara as Ohtani’s interpreter for the remainder of the 2024 season and has remained in that role for this season as well.
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