Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtanis ex-interpreter who stole $17 million from Dodgers star, sentenced to 57 months in jail
Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara went from the dugout to the bullpen on Thursday.Judge John W.Holcomb sentenced Mizuhara to 57 months in jail and ordered him to pay $18 million in restitution.
He will report to prison on March 24.Mizuhara pleaded guilty last year to charges of bank fraud and filing a false tax return after he had stolen roughly $17 million from the 2024 National League MVP to cover gambling debts. His probation officer told the judge he recommended four years.Prosecutors wanted 57 months, and Mizuhara asked the judge for a much-lighter 18-month sentence.The prosecutors got exactly what they wanted.“I am asking for a little mercy from the court concerning my sentence you will hand down,” Mizuhara said in a letter to the Judge.Bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who was taking Mizuhara’s illegal bets through his Costa Rica betting site, told The Post last week that Mizuhara “is a great guy.”“I think he will get three to five years,” he said last week.
“I feel terrible he’s going through this.”Bowyer told The Post on Thursday he was not at the California courthouse to watch the sentencing and did not plan on speaking further publicly about the matter until after the same judge sentences him on April 4.The former bookie is hoping that he only gets probation.“It was very obvious after some time that [Mizuhara] was stealing money and not asking Ohtani for permission,” Bowyer told The Post in the exclusive interview last week, adding that he never asked Mizuhara if Ohtani was placing any bets through him.Last month, the Associated Press released an audio recording of Mizuhara allegedly impersonating Ohtani with a bank as he tried to get $200,000 transferred to him for a “car loan.”Prosecutors said Mizuhara made at least 19,000 wagers between September 2021 and January 2024, through Bowyer.“During this period, Mizuhara had total winning bets of at least $142,256,769, and total losing bets of at least $182,935,206, le...