Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani, leaves the federal court, on the day of sentencing after pleading guilty to bank fraud and tax-evasion charges, in Santa Ana, California, U.S., February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The former interpreter to Shohei Ohtani, who admitted stealing almost $17 million from the Japanese baseball star to pay off illegal gambling debts, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Thursday (Friday in Manila).

Ippei Mizuhara will serve more than four years in federal prison for posing as the superstar Dodger to steal money from his bank accounts to pay gambling debts

The former interpreter to Shohei Ohtani, who admitted stealing almost $17 million from the Japanese baseball star to pay off illegal gambling debts, was sentenced to 57 months in prison

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter convicted of stealing nearly $17 million from Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Thursday, according to The Athletic's Sam Blum.

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani, has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for a fraud and gambling scheme. He was ordered to pay back nearly $17m (£13.6m) that he'd stolen from the star athlete and another $1m to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in past taxes.

Ippei Mizuhara agreed to a plea deal last spring related to what authorities described as a years-long scheme to steal almost $17 million from Ohtani.

Instead, Mizuhara exploited the language barrier to isolate Ohtani and profit from his proximity to the two-way player ’s power. Mizuhara pleaded guilty last year to federal charges after he was accused of siphoning money out of Ohtani's bank account to cover sports gambling bets and debts in a case that has stoked an international media frenzy.

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.