Federal prosecutors said no evidence backs up Ippei Mizuhara's claims that he suffered from a gambling addiction, which led to massive debts, according to court documents. Mizuhara, the former longtime interpreter of Shohei Ohtani, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6 after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud charges in June. In the spring, Mizuhara admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off sports betting debts. Prosecutors asked for $16 million in restitution to Ohtani and an additional $1.1 million to the IRS.

Federal prosecutors disputed claims by Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter that he stole from the slugger to pay back massive gambling debts, saying there was no evidence he suffered from a gambling addiction before he started draining the Los Angeles Dodgers star's bank account, according to court documents filed Thursday. Ippei Mizuhara is due to be sentenced Feb. 6 after his June guilty plea. Last week, he asked U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb for an 18-month sentence, instead of the nearly five years prosecutors seek. Mizuhara said he was remorseful and blamed the crime on what he called a "long-standing" addiction to gambling in which he "frequented casinos four to five times a week."

Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, is facing sentencing after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud charges, and recently tried to claim that a gambling addiction and poor working conditions led to him stealing millions from his employer. But federal prosecutors are disputing Mizuhara's attempt at sympathy in new court documents filed this week. In hopes of receiving a lighter sentence, Mizuhara said he suffered from a "long-standing" addiction to gambling, but per an ESPN report, prosecutors said there's no evidence of an addiction other than "self-serving and uncorroborated statements to the psychologist he hired for the purposes of sentencing." Far from a pattern of gambling, the investigation turned up just $200 in bets from Mizuhara at the Mirage casino in 2008. He signed up for a FanDuel account in 2018 but never used it, then started betting with DraftKings in 2023 after he "had already stolen millions of dollars from Mr. Ohtani," prosecuters said.