Ippei Mizuhara has a federal court sentencing hearing set for Thursday afternoon for taking almost $17 million from Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani. He was Ohtani's translator.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The former interpreter for Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani is expected to be sentenced Thursday for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account.

Ippei Mizuhara, Dodger star Shohei Ohtani’s former long-time interpreter and close friend, was sentenced to 57 months, or nearly 5 years, in prison on bank fraud and false tax return charges, LAist has confirmed.

A former interpreter was sentenced on Thursday to nearly five years in prison for stealing $17 million from Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani to pay off gambling debts, according to local media reports.

Shohei Ohtani's onetime interpreter was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar to pay off gambling losses.

Instead, Mizuhara exploited the language barrier to isolate Ohtani and profit from his proximity to the two-way player ’s power. Mizuhara pleaded guilty last year to federal charges after he was accused of siphoning money out of Ohtani's bank account to cover sports gambling bets and debts in a case that has stoked an international media frenzy.