Ex-Ohtani interpreter Mizuhara reports to U.S. prison
Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, is in U.S. federal prison, prison authorities said Monday, after being sentenced for stealing nearly $17 million from the baseball player.
His incarceration in Pennsylvania comes after Mizuhara, 40, was sentenced to a prison term of four years and nine months and was ordered to surrender himself to authorities by Monday, according to his attorney.
Mizuhara is being held in a low-security prison in Allenwood, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. His defense has said he is likely to be deported to Japan after completing his sentence, as he is not an American citizen.
According to court documents, Mizuhara misappropriated $16.59 million from one of Ohtani's bank accounts from November 2021 through March 2024 to pay a bookmaker to cover gambling debts.
Mizuhara also stole around $380,000 to buy baseball cards to resell them and to pay for his dental work. Additionally, he submitted a false tax return for 2022, knowing the income he had received that year far exceeded the amount reported, the documents said.
The incident stunned the baseball world and Ohtani's fans after it emerged through media reports in March last year.
Mizuhara came to the United States in 2018 to work as Ohtani's interpreter when the two-way star began his MLB career with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mizuhara initially falsely told U.S. sports network ESPN that Ohtani had sent him the money to pay off his gambling debts.
A federal district court in California sentenced Mizuhara in February after he pleaded guilty to the charges. He was initially ordered to report to prison in March, but was twice granted a deadline extension at his request.
Related coverage:
Ex-Ohtani interpreter gets nearly 5 yrs in prison over bank fraud
Prosecutors seek 4 yrs in prison for Ohtani's ex-interpreter Mizuhara
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asahi Shimbun
18 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
NFL cheerleader-turned chef is stirring up U.S. restaurant scene
Four years after swapping her pompoms for a chef's knife, Masako Morishita earned one of the most prestigious accolades in American dining: a James Beard Foundation Award. In 2024 she was honored in the Emerging Chef category, winning what amounts to an Academy Award of cooking. Born and raised in Kobe, Morishita's journey was anything but conventional. As a teenager studying abroad in the United States, she discovered cheerleading for the first time. Enthralled by the energy and athleticism it requires, she returned to Japan determined to master the sport. She spent more than a decade in grueling training. After multiple auditions, Morishita achieved her dream when in 2013 she earned a spot on the cheerleading squad for Washington's NFL team–now known as the Commanders. By her fifth season she had made history as the team's first overseas-born captain. When she eventually hung up her uniform, Morishita poured that same relentless energy into a new passion: food. She brought Japanese comfort cuisine to Washington, D.C., by hosting pop-ups in vacant storefronts and serving dishes like fragrant curry and pork shabu-shabu, a popular hot pot featuring paper-thin slices of premium pork. As her reputation grew, a local wine bar invited her to put her talents on a larger stage. About three years ago Morishita took a job at a Japanese restaurant, but she found the work creatively stifling. The kitchen operated on a rigid menu and relied on frozen "shumai" dumplings. She persuaded the owner to let her introduce down-home Japanese dishes with an imaginative twist. Diners loved them. Morishita's breakout creation, miso butter clams, drew inspiration from a childhood memory of her father topping a bowl of rice with miso soup and a small pat of butter, letting the flavors melt together in comforting simplicity. Remarkably, Morishita never went to culinary school. Her secret weapon, she says, is her finely honed palate that developed when she grew up in Kobe. Her family ran a sake shop with a lively standing bar. Morishita's unusual journey, blending elite athletics, entrepreneurial grit and culinary creativity, has put her in the U.S. media. The State Department tasked her with preparing a luncheon during an official visit by former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Washington. Moreover, Morishita is still a rarity among American restaurateurs: female and an immigrant in a field dominated by men. She sees that uniqueness as a strength, using her visibility to challenge stereotypes about Japanese cuisine and to champion what she calls 'cultural diplomacy through food.' From the grassroots up, she is carving out her own path, one inventive dish at a time.
Kyodo News
a day ago
- Kyodo News
Baseball: Darvish roughed up as Dodgers sweep series against Padres
LOS ANGELES - Yu Darvish surrendered four runs on two homers for the San Diego Padres as the Los Angeles Dodgers won 5-4 on Sunday to complete a three-game series sweep, increasing their National League West lead to two games. Shohei Ohtani singled to right and Mookie Betts walked before Freddie Freeman hit a three-run shot to center in the first inning at Dodger Stadium with Darvish left regretting the pitch that led to the homer. "I did something wasteful, stupid against Freemen in the first," said the right-hander after he went with a four-seamer down the middle when he was up 0-2 in the count. "He swung and missed the first two and I thought my fastball would be good enough...(But) Freeman is a good batter to begin with and someone I needed to mix up various pitches." He also allowed a solo shot to Andy Pages with two outs in the inning, while Ohtani came within meters of a home run in the second when his fly was caught on the warning track by left fielder Ramon Laureano. Darvish regrouped, however, as he retired his last nine batters straight before he got the hook after four innings, striking out five while allowing three hits and two walks in an 82-pitch effort. "The rest wasn't bad. I was a bit off in the bullpen (during practice), but my pitches were good from the first inning," said Darvish, who allowed a rare hit to Ohtani after yielding only one hit in 11 at-bats last year to his countryman including the postseason. "The worst outcome against Ohtani is allowing an extra-base hit like home runs. I'm essentially fine with singles." The Padres scored a run each in the third, fifth and sixth, with Laureano going deep for the second run, before they tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the eighth. However, the Dodgers quickly reclaimed the lead thanks to a solo shot in the home half from Betts, his first hit of the series.
The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
Baseball: Darvish roughed up as Dodgers sweep series against Padres
LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) -- Yu Darvish surrendered four runs on two homers for the San Diego Padres as the Los Angeles Dodgers won 5-4 on Sunday to complete a three-game series sweep, increasing their National League West lead to two games. Shohei Ohtani singled to right and Mookie Betts walked before Freddie Freeman hit a three-run shot to center in the first inning at Dodger Stadium. Darvish expressed regret over the pitch that led to Freeman's homer. "I did something wasteful, stupid against Freemen in the first," said the right-hander after he went with a four-seamer down the middle when he was up 0-2 in the count. He also allowed a solo shot to Andy Pages with two outs in the inning, while Ohtani came within meters of a home run in the second when his fly was caught on the warning track by left fielder Ramon Laureano. Darvish regrouped, however, as he retired his last nine batters straight before he got the hook after four innings, striking out five while allowing three hits and two walks in an 82-pitch effort. "The rest wasn't bad," Darvish said. "I was a bit off in the bullpen (during practice), but my pitches were good from the first inning." The Padres scored a run each in the third, fifth and sixth, with Laureano going deep for the second run, before they tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the eighth. However, the Dodgers quickly reclaimed the lead thanks to a solo shot in the home half from Betts, his first hit of the series.
