Ohtani bought me a round-trip first ticket, but the luckiest man in the world crashed
Feb 07, 2025
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Mizuhara Itpei, who was an interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, was an interpreter who received tremendous attention. Almost every day in his home country of Japan, a newspaper article was reported covering episodes of Mizuhara, his interpreter, as much as Ohtani. Even in the United States, where Ohtani plays, he was interested in Mizuhara, a 'special being' who spent nearly 365 days with him.
Usually, staff dedicated to interpreting foreign players are not as important as Mizuhara. Because Ohtani was like a shadow of a special player, attention was paid even more.
Ohtani is a sports star who is revered as a divine being in his home country of Japan. However, he is reluctant to come forward and talk about himself or bring up stories related to his personal life. He literally concentrates on baseball and refrains from unnecessary public exposure as much as possible. Since Ohtani is such a mysterious player, attention was inevitable to Mizuhara, who spends the most time with him.
Mizuhara was not only an employee who interpreted English to Ohtani, but also the most intimate person who participated in training for the entire year and even helped in the private sector. Ohtani is also known to have relied on him a lot.
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However, after it was revealed that Mizuhara stole tens of billions of won from Ohtani's account and engaged in illegal sports gambling, the relationship between the two was catastrophic. Mizuhara forged Ohtani's signature and made bank transactions claiming he was Ohtani. Taking aim at Ohtani's location with easy access to his personal information and his sloppiness dedicated solely to exercise, he easily spent the money in his account. He used Ohtani's cash card for his dental treatment and even purchased a baseball card for collectors with the money in Ohtani's account.
In the end, Mizuhara also ordered four years and nine months in prison and $18 million in compensation from the U.S. federal court on the 7th (Korea time). Of the compensation, $17 million (about 24.6 billion won) must be paid to Ohtani and the rest to the U.S. National Tax Service.
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However, according to the US media 'IGB', Judge Holcomb "Otani provided convenience, including paying round-trip first-class airfare for the accused (Mizuhara) and his wife." To be honest, this letter is misleading", he said, explaining that Mizuhara's explanation was false.
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Mizuhara met Ohtani and lost all the career and financial gains he could get with him. Not only that, but life itself has become bleak. The luckiest man in the world fell into the greatest ordeal of his life.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
