"Formal Procedure... Guilty Verdict to Be Acknowledged Later"
Former interpreter Mizuhara Ippei (39), who was indicted on charges of embezzling over 20 billion won from MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers), denied the charges in court, AP News reported on the 14th (local time).
At the indictment hearing held at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles (LA) on the same day, Mizuhara did not admit to the charges of bank fraud and false income reporting brought by the prosecution. However, Mizuhara's side told the media that this was merely a procedural step for the lawsuit and that he would admit guilt later. He had already pleaded guilty to the federal prosecutors on the 5th and negotiated sentencing. He also waived the right to a grand jury indictment for a verdict of guilt or innocence.
MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers) and former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara [Photo by AFP Yonhap News]
Mizuhara was indicted last month on charges of withdrawing about $17 million (approximately 23.26 billion won) from Ohtani's bank account to repay his sports gambling debts and lying to the bank to get approval for the transfers. He concealed his crimes for two years by changing the contact information linked to Ohtani's bank account. Investigations revealed that Ohtani had never accessed the account online even once in the three years since opening it.
He is also charged with failing to report additional income worth $4.1 million (about 5.6 billion won) when filing 2022 income with the IRS, thus not reporting his total income.
The maximum sentence for bank fraud is 30 years in prison, and for false income reporting, up to 3 years. In the sentencing agreement with prosecutors, Mizuhara agreed to return about $17 million to Ohtani and pay $1,149,400 (about 157 million won) in taxes, related interest, and fines to the IRS. However, AP reported that this amount could change before the court's sentencing.
According to the prosecution's indictment submitted to the court, Mizuhara won $142 million and lost $183 million in hundreds of gambling bets, resulting in a net loss of about $41 million (approximately 56.09 billion won).
Mizuhara first confessed to his gambling addiction on March 20, when the LA Dodgers team came to Seoul for the MLB opening game. At that time, the LA Dodgers held a meeting where Mizuhara admitted his gambling addiction and apologized. It was then that Ohtani first learned that Mizuhara was involved in illegal gambling and had accumulated a huge debt. Mizuhara reportedly asked Ohtani to "consider the gambling debt as if you paid it off," but Ohtani is known to have immediately rejected the request.
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