Things just keep getting messier for Ippei Mizuhara! After being caught red-handed for swiping a staggering $17 million from Shohei Ohtani’s account to fuel his gambling addiction, you’d think the drama was over. Nope. Now, Mizuhara’s father is flipping the script—demanding an investigation into Ohtani himself! Sounds wild, right?

Before we dive into that, let’s rewind. Mizuhara, once Ohtani’s trusted interpreter, secretly funneled millions to cover his gambling debts. The truth came crashing down, and boom—57 months behind bars. But is this saga really over, or is there more to the story?

But there’s a reason Mizuhara’s father demands an investigation, isn’t there?

Well, for Hidemasa, as a father, it’s not unnatural to be concerned about his son; however, it’s also true that Ippei Mizuhara has admitted to the fraudulent activities conducted by him. So, after Mizuhara gets sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and is required to pay a hefty ¥2.6 billion for the damages, his father said, “Shouldn’t we investigate Shohei more? His personality. You don’t know him, do you? Of course I do. But I can’t say it. It’s not about me.”

The cause was a letter that Mizuhara sent to the Federal District Court in which he described living in a substandard environment. Mizuhara had to work relentlessly., not just as an interpreter but also to take care of Ohtani’s personal needs. Despite the high salary paid to him, he was unable to manage his expenses, due to which he turned to gambling activities. So the main question—how come a person like Ohtani does not notice that around $2.6 billion was stolen from his account? According to Mizuhara’s father, the media is largely responsible for portraying certain athletes in a way that inspires fans to fervently worship them, while the true character of an individual is frequently concealed.

So, is this a myth created by the media that Ohtani is a wonderful person, or maybe there’s something more that remains under the covers?

Ippei Mizuhara seeks mercy from the judge

Although Ippei Mizuhara’s father’s claim for an investigation into Shohei Ohtani may be unlikely to happen, given that Mizuhara already admitted his mistake, he has asked the judge to be merciful. Mizuhara clearly mentioned the financial stress that he was going through, which led him to use the online sports betting website managed by Matthew Bowyer. That’s why the mounting gambling debt led to stealing money from Ohtani’s account, and that’s why he feels sorry for violating the trust that Ohtani used to have in him. But that’s not all!

Mizuhara even apologized for his mistake and confirmed accepting the consequences; however, he has asked for a little bit of mercy to reduce the sentence to some extent. While this kind of guilt related to bank fraud literally comes down to facing 30 years in prison, Mizuhara’s attorney has asked for an 18-month sentence imposed on him. Sounds fair?

Well, let’s get your opinions to come out—do you think Mizuhara can be spared to some extent given that his gambling addiction was due to his tough work and exposure to bookmakers? Let us know in the comment section below.