Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account to pay off his own gambling debts.
Mizuhara was fired from the Dodgers in March. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Mizuhara, 39, agreed to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return, which together hold a maximum sentence of 33 years in federal prison.
Mizuhara fraudulently secured $16.9 million from Ohtani’s account, according to the plea agreement, which noted the translator admitted to falsely reporting his total taxable income to the Internal Revenue Service in 2022.
Mizuhara admitted receiving $4.1 million of unreported income in 2022, all of which was gathered from Ohtani’s account.
The translator now owes approximately $1.1 million in taxes for 2022—before interest and penalties.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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