You be the umpire: what sentence for Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter?

January is always an exciting sports month, especially for football fans.  After a wonderful college football playoff can to a terrific end earlier this week, I am now especially looking forward to the NFL games this weekend that will deterine who goes to the SuperBowl in February.  And February is also a great sports month especially for baseball fans like me looking forward to spring and spring training.  And baseball is on my sentencing mind this morning because of reports on the memos filed before the upcoming sentencing of Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter.  This detailed Heavy piece has the basics and links to the filings:

[A]n attorney for Ippei Mizuhara are asking a federal judge to sentence him to 18 months in prison in his fraud case, a sentencing memorandum filed on January 23, 2025, reveals.

Federal prosecutors are seeking just under five years (57 months) in federal prison, according to a document filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office on January 23.

The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani admitted to stealing $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account to help pay off a sizable illegal gambling debt, according to prosecutors.

“Ippei Mizuhara faces sentencing for stealing from his boss, baseball star Shohei Ohtani, to fund his gambling addiction, which was exacerbated by the unique facts of this case,” his attorney, Michael Freedman wrote in the court filing. “As will be demonstrated in this sentencing memorandum and the accompanying letters and forensic psychologist’s report, Mr. Mizuhara made a terrible mistake as a result of his serious gambling addiction, an anomaly in an otherwise law-abiding life in which he was dedicated to his career as an interpreter for Mr. Ohtani and other baseball players.”

Freedman argued for a below guidelines sentence for Mizuhara. The guidelines call for a sentence of 57 to 71 months in prison. He argued that Mizuhara’s reputation was destroyed, he will face deportation after time in his time in prison and his family will suffer as well as him as a result of his crimes.

Mizuhara pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in May 2024 and faces up to 30 years in prison, though it is unlikely he would be sentenced to anywhere near that amount of time behind bars. He will be sentenced on February 6, 2025, in federal court in Santa Ana, California. U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb will determine his sentence.

Prosecutors filed an audio recording of Mizuhara impersonating Ohtani while on a call with his bank on January 23, which has been obtained and posted online by The Athletic.  Mizuhara admitted that he began gambling in September 2021 using an illegal bookmaker and quickly racked up millions of dollars in debt.

“Unable to pay his gambling debts, Mizuhara orchestrated a scheme to deceive and cheat the bank to fraudulently obtain money from the account,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a press release. “From no later than November 2021 to March 2024, Mizuhara used Ohtani’s password to successfully sign into the bank account and then changed the account’s security protocols without Ohtani’s knowledge or permission. Specifically, Mizuhara changed the registered email address and telephone number on the account so bank employees would call him – not Ohtani – when attempting to verify wire transfers from the account.”

So, dear readers, if you were the umpire tasked with judging the fate of Mizuhara, what sentence would you impose?