"That's Shohei Ohtani's voice", "Ippei Mizuhara was framed" - Fans react to audio of tainted interpreter impersonating Dodgers superstar

Despite Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's achievements and accolades, one controversy has followed him during his stint with the NL West team. In March 2024, his former translator, Ippei Mizuhara, admitted to the team that he had a gambling addiction. He was then subsequently fired and was replaced by Will Ireton as interpreter.

In a recent development, new evidence has been made public about the infamous debacle. In an audio snippet from the Justice Department, released by The Athletic, Mizuhara was heard speaking to a bank teller via phone call while impersonating Shohei Ohtani.

Baseball fans are still divided on the issue although Mizuhara pleaded guilty to the charges of bank fraud last year. Some still think that Ippei Mizuhara was framed and was the fall guy in the whole controversy.

"That's Shohei Ohtani's voice," a fan claimed.

"Ippei Mizuhara was framed," another added.

"Dude is the fall guy," a fan stated.

While a section of baseball fans think Ohtani was originally at fault, another set of fans believe the irrefutable evidence that was previously published.

"People still gonna believe the fall guy because they can’t think their head is full of hatred," a fan shared.

"True braindeath is being presented with an insurmountable number of facts and evidence and still believing there is an Illuminati level scheme to protect Ohtani," a fan stated.

"You were really a special kind of stupid if you truly thought Ohtani was some degenerate gambler and forced Ippei into being a fall guy," a fan exclaimed.

"There are people who genuinely think the FBI is covering up for Ohtani lmao," another shared.

In the audio clip, Mizuhara introduced himself as "Shohei Ohtani" while requesting a $200,000 transfer. He then proceeded to lie about it saying that the purpose was for a car loan to be paid to a "friend."

Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara faces five years of jail time

In April 2024, Mizuhara was charged by the federal government related to bank fraud. After an investigation, the total valuation of what the former interpreter took from Ohtani was valued to be close to $17 million.

Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of submitting a false tax return on June 4, 2024.

On Thursday, the United States attorneys asked for a $16.9 million compensation for Ohtani and an additional $1.1 million to the IRS to be paid by Mizuhara. The federal prosecutors are also requesting a 57-month prison sentence for the infamous interpreter.