The former interpreter for Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani is expected to be sentenced Thursday for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account.
Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of four years and nine months for Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between Ohtani and his English-speaking teammates and fans as the duo traveled from Southern California to ballparks across the U.S. Instead, Mizuhara exploited the Japanese-English language barrier to isolate Ohtani and profit from his proximity to the two-way player ’s power.
