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Shohei Ohtani‘s ex-translator and best friend, Ippei Mizuhara, will plead guilty to multiple federal charges — after admitting to taking nearly $17 million from the Dodgers superstar — and now faces up to 3+ decades in prison!
On Wednesday, The United States Justice Department announced that 39-year-old Mizuhara would soon face the music after agreeing to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of filing a false tax return for the extensive, multi-year fraud.
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said of Ippei’s actions.
“He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit. My office is committed to vindicating victims throughout our community and ensuring that wrongdoers face justice.”
Justice could come in the form of 33 years in a prison cell … as the bank fraud charge carries up to a 30 year sentence, and 3 years on the tax charge. In all likelihood, the sentence will be significantly less.
Mizuhara, whom the government says “exploited his relationship” with baseball’s biggest star, will admit to secretly transferring almost $17 million of Ohtani’s money in order to pay gambling debts.
Get this — according to ESPN, Mizuhara made payments to “Real Houswives of Orange County cast member Ryan Boyajian … who worked alongside the alleged illegal bookmaker, Matthew Bowyer.
The outlet claims Boyajian and Bowyer would then launder the money at Vegas casinos.
Ohtani, who doesn’t speak English, relied on Mizuhara for nearly everything while in the States … including opening a bank account for the slugger in 2018. According to the DOJ, in September 2021, Ippei began making wagers on sporting events and quickly became indebted to a bookie.
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That’s when authorities say he hatched a plan to steal from Shohei, making unauthorized changes to his bank account, which essentially gave him unfettered access to Ohtani’s fortune.
The DOJ says Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani on approximately 24 occasions over a roughly 3-year period.
The translator also allegedly used Shohei’s funds to pay for expensive dental work, as well as purchase $325k worth of trading cards.
Ippei is scheduled to be arraigned in a California courtroom on May 14.