Baseball star Ohtani’s former interpreter pleads guilty to bank fraud
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Japanese baseball great Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing nearly $17 million from the player’s bank account to pay his gambling debts, according to US prosecutors.
SANTA ANA, California: A former interpreter for Japanese baseball great Shohei Ohtani pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing nearly $17 million from the player’s bank account to pay his gambling debts, according to US prosecutors.
Ippei Mizuhara, the one-time translator and de facto manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ power-hitting pitcher, pleaded guilty in a deal announced last month, a U.S. Attorney spokesman said. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 25.
Mizuhara’s lawyer declined to comment.
A 33-page record of the deal has already been filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles, in which Mizuhara, 39, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.
Conviction on federal bank fraud charges carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, while tax crimes carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
Ohtani said in a written statement that he thanks authorities for “their thorough and effective investigation.”
“It’s time to close this chapter, move on and focus on playing the game and winning,” he said.
Covering debt
Mizuhara was accused of embezzling nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account, which Mizuhara helped open in Phoenix in 2018, and transferring the funds to an illegal bookmaking operation without the ballplayer’s knowledge to cover Mizuhara’s gambling debts.
In announcing the original bank fraud charge on April 11, U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada insisted there was no indication of wrongdoing by Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract to join the Dodgers this offseason, making him the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball.
Ohtani, 29, whose talents as a slugger and pitcher have made him a parallel to Babe Ruth, has said he was the unwitting victim of theft and has never bet on baseball or knowingly given money to a bookmaker.
According to prosecutors, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book in late 2021 and lost a significant amount of money.
To pay off his debts, prosecutors said Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani over the phone more than two dozen times and deceived bank employees into authorizing money transfers from Ohtani’s account.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)