Ohtani’s interpreter takes plea deal

The former interpreter for Japanese baseball great Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges he fraudulently wired nearly $17 million stolen from the athlete’s bank account to pay off his own gambling debts, court records showed on Wednesday. The plea agreement between federal prosecutors and Ippei Mizuhara, the one-time translator and de facto manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ power-hitting pitcher, was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, where the case was first brought last month. A federal bank fraud conviction carries a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.