Ohtani’s ex-interpreter Mizuhara sentenced to nearly five years in prison

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Thursday by a federal district court in California, in case involving the illegal transfer of nearly $17 million from the star’s account to pay off gambling debts.

The onetime translator and de facto manager of the power-hitting pitcher from Japan was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, the punishment prosecutors had sought, and also ordered by U.S. District Judge John Holcomb to pay restitution of over $18 million, the City News Service reported. Mizuhara pleaded guilty last year.

Mizuhara last year pleaded guilty to one count of felony bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return, according to his plea deal previously filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.