Feb. 6 (UPI) — Ippei Mizuhara has a federal court sentencing hearing set for Thursday afternoon for taking almost $17 million from Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani. He was Ohtani’s translator.
Mizuhura pleaded guilty to bank fraud and submitting a false tax return.
Prosecutors are pressing to include restitution of nearly $17 million to Ohtani and $1 million to the IRS as part of Mizuhara’s sentence.
The stolen money was spent on gambling and $325,000 in baseball cards among other things, according to prosecutors and Ohtani’s lawyers.
Ohtani had no role in Mizuhara’s crimes and did not bet on baseball.
“Let there be no doubt, Mr. Ohtani is truly a victim and has suffered, and will continue to suffer, harm from defendant’s conduct,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Mizuhura said in a letter to the sentencing judge that he was desperate for money and was paid just $11,000 per year to translate for Ohtani while also being employed by the Dodgers.
So he started sports gambling but incurred debts, he said.
“My gambling debt had grown so much that I could not find any way to pay it but to use Shohei’s money,” Mizuhura wrote in his letter ot the judge.
Mizuhura’s lawyer, Michael G. Freedman, said in a sentencing memo that a longstanding gambling addiction, exacerbated by grueling work and “exposure to high-stakes bookmakers in the world of professional athletes” led to his client’s actions.
Prosecutors allege there’s no evidence Mizuhura has a gambling addiction. They said he only started betting in 2023, a point where he had already taken millions from Ohtani.
And they say he had a $250,000 salary in 2023.
Mizuhura pleaded guilty in May to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay for his gambling debts. He faces up to 33 years in prison.
