Baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter is sentenced to nearly 5 years in sports betting case

The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player's bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal court in Santa Ana after pleading guilty last year. "The magnitude of the theft — $17 million — in my view, is shockingly high," U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb said upon issuing the sentence.