Law enforcement authorities in the United States, and MLB, have concluded their investigation on the Ippei Mizuhara case.
The former interpreter and friend of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani pled guilty to tax and bank fraud charges, and will be sentenced in October.
He is facing a maximum sentence of 33 years for impersonating Ohtani to talk to the bank and gain access to his money and spending millions to fund illegal gambling activities.
Mizuhara spent about $16 million that belonged to Ohtani over two years.
In March, the Dodgers initially reported “massive theft” on Ohtani’s bank account.
The whole process was likely very hard on Ohtani: after all, Mizuhara and him were extremely close and were actually friends beyond the normal player-interpreter relationship.
The global star felt betrayed.
Mizuhara is now facing serious jail time, and the investigation is closed.
Ohtani released a statement on the situation, admitting that Ippei’s admission of guilt brought closure for him.
Dodgers beat writer Jack Harris posted the statement on his Twitter account.
Statement from Shohei Ohtani on Ippei Mizuhara’s guilty plea today pic.com/3jlsx2Xv5j
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) June 4, 2024
As Ohtani states, this has been a challenging time for him and his family, but he has a good support system around him that helped him overcome the loss of a friend and the disappointment of what Mizuhara did to him.
He is ready to finally move on and fully focus on what happens on the field and not off of it.
He has been performing admirably anyway: his .322 batting average ranks fourth in baseball, and his .596 OPS is also the fourth-best in the league.
He also has 14 home runs and is a firm MVP candidate in the National League.
