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Federal prosecutors have reached a plea cope with Ippei Mizuhara, the previous interpreter for MLB star Shohei Ohtani, which may see him serving as much as 33 years in federal jail.
The 39-year-old pleaded responsible to a pair of felony expenses for financial institution fraud and submitting a false tax return. The settlement requires Mizuhara to pay $17 million in restitution to the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher. The interpreter funneled hundreds of thousands of {dollars} out of Ohtani’s account for protecting 1000’s of bets made with an unlawful bookie.
“I want to emphasize this point: Mr. Ohtani is considered a victim in this case,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada stated in April. “Mr. Mizuhara used and abused that position of trust… in order to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s bank account to the tune of over $16 million.”
Assets Seized, IRS Agreement
Mizuhara just isn’t anticipated to obtain the utmost sentence as a part of the plea deal, and sure will serve seven to 9 years in jail. A choose within the case will make the ultimate determination on jail phrases, nevertheless.
Along with jail time and the restitution, Mizuhara should additionally pay the IRS $1.5 million for failing to report over $4 million in revenue. The crime first got here to gentle in March when ESPN uncovered particulars within the case.
Mizuhara was later fired by the Dodgers. The financial institution fraud scheme ran from November 2021 to March 2024, and included impersonating the baseball participant to get the financial institution to approve giant monetary transfers.
As a part of the cope with authorities, Mizuhara may have property bought with the stolen funds seized, together with important baseball memorabilia that included playing cards that includes Yogi Berra, Juan Soto, and Ohtani.
TV Show In Development
In associated information, all the ordeal is now expected to be featured in a TV series. Deadline reviews that Lionsgate Television has tagged Scott Delman and Albert Chen to supply a scripted sequence based mostly on the scandal.
The present is predicted to observe Ohtani’s rise from Japanese baseball to signing the most important sports activities deal in American historical past, a 10-year settlement with the Dodgers price $700 million.
“This is major league baseball’s biggest sports gambling scandal since Pete Rose – and at its center is its biggest star, one that MLB has hitched its wagon on,” Chen stated. “We’ll get to the heart of the story – a story of trust, betrayal and the trappings of wealth and fame.”
