On Tuesday (4 June) morning, former Shohei Ohtani interpreter Ippei Mizuhara pled guilty to two federal counts of stealing $17m from Ohtani. Mizuhara fell hard and fast into gambling debt with an illegal bookmaker. His sentencing is set for 25 October.
Mizuhara, wearing a dark suit with an untucked shirt and no tie, told Judge John A Holcomb: “I worked for Victim A and had access to his accounts. I had fallen into major gambling debt. The only way I could think of to pay that was to send money from Victim A’s account” to the illegal bookmaker.
Mizuhara then pled guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a fraudulent tax return. The maximum penalty for the charges is 33 years in prison and a $1.5m fine. Tuesday’s proceedings took place at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Court House in Santa Ana, California. Previous court appearances were at the Roybal federal complex in downtown Los Angeles.
From here, the court and US Probation Office will put toge..
