Ippei Mizuhara Reports to Prison After Stealing Nearly $17M from Shohei Ohtani

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter who stole nearly $17 million from Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, is in federal prison in Pennsylvania after being ordered to surrender to federal authorities by Monday, per ESPN's Tisha Thompson.

Mizuhara, sentenced to 57 months in prison, is in custody at Federal Correctional Institution Allenwood-Low, a low-security facility. Though he was originally ordered to report to prison in March, a federal judge allowed a delay until Monday.

In March 2024, an investigation by ESPN revealed that Mizuhara had wired millions of dollars to an illegal bookmaker from Ohtani's account, leading the Dodgers to fire Ohtani's longtime interpreter and friend.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California revealed in April of last year that Mizuhara had been charged with bank fraud.

"According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, from November 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara wired more than $16 million in unauthorized transfers from a checking account belong to an MLB player identified in the affidavit as 'Victim A,' who in fact is MLB star Shohei Ohtani," a statement read.

"The transfers from this bank account allegedly were made from devices and IP addresses associated with Mizuhara, who served as Ohtani's translator and de facto manager."

He later admitted to amassing more than $40 million in debt after placing 19,000 bets to an illegal bookmaker. He also filed a fake tax return with the IRS. Additionally, Mizuhara stole baseball cards worth $325,000 from Ohtani. Ohtani recovered those cards in December.

A plea agreement last May also stated that Mizuhara pocketed a $60,000 check that Ohtani gave him to use for dental work, instead using Ohtani's debit card to pay for the procedure.

Along with his time spent in prison, U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb ordered Mizuhara to pay $1.1 million to the IRS.