Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter amid allegation of ‘massive theft’
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter for the Los Angeles Dodgers was let off on Wednesday afternoon due to concerns about wire transactions totaling at least $4.5 million that were made from Ohtani’s bank account to a bookmaking business.
ESPN was informed by numerous sources that Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s longtime friend and interpreter, incurred the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking enterprise that is currently the subject of a federal investigation. It all began when reporters began to grill him about the wire transfers.
At first, an Ohtani representative informed ESPN that the slugger had sent the money to pay off Mizuhara’s debt from gambling. In a 90-minute interview with ESPN on Tuesday night, the spokesperson gave Mizuhara the opportunity to thoroughly clarify his story. But while ESPN got ready,The statement from Berk Brettler LLP stated, “We are reporting the case to the police after learning that Shohei has been the victim of a significant theft during our response to recent media queries.
The spokesperson failed to respond to any more inquiries, and the statement did not identify the suspected theft perpetrator.
After the Berk Brettler statement, Mizuhara was questioned by ESPN on Wednesday afternoon if he had been accused of stealing. He replied he had been instructed he could not speak, but he would not identify by whom.
This week’s events occurred while federal authorities looked into the Southern California bookmaker Mathew Bowyer’s organization. Payments via wire transfer were made from Ohtani’s account to a Bowyer acquaintance.
According to people close to the gaming organization, Bowyer dealt directly with Mizuhara beginning in 2021. Mizuhara wagered on international soccer matches and other sports, but not baseball. According to a source, Bowyer knew the name on the wire transfers but decided not to inquire further as long as money was received. The source also said that Bowyer deliberately misled people into thinking Ohtani was a client in order to increase sales.
According to Diane Bass, Bowyer’s lawyer, “Mr. Bowyer never met or spoke with Shohei Ohtani.” She refused to respond to any more queries.
Mizuhara, 39, told ESPN during the scheduled interview on Tuesday on behalf of Ohtani’s spokesman that he urged Ohtani, 29, to settle his gambling debt last year, as other sources claimedHowever, Mizuhara claimed to ESPN on Wednesday afternoon that Ohtani was unaware of his debt from gambling and had not sent any money to the bookmaker’s accomplice.
Beyond their business partnership, Mizuhara and Ohtani are friends. Fans of baseball will recognize Mizuhara since she has interpreted for Ohtani ever since the star went to the United States in 2018. Mizuhara has accompanied the two-way player in dugouts, locker rooms, player lounges, on vacations, in media settings, and other locations. He has acted as Ohtani’s interpreter when speaking with coaches and team managers, and they discuss scouting reports together while the game is in progress. Seldom are the two apart. Mizuhara is the pitcher’s go-to person for errands, carrying his water bottle, and being so constant that an Ohtani teammate once called the”I never wager on baseball,” stated Mizuhara. “That is entirely true. I was aware of that rule. In spring training, we have a meeting to discuss that.”
MLB workers and players may wager on sports other than baseball, but they may not use offshore websites or illicit bookmakers. According to the league rulebook, the commissioner may decide to sanction wagers made with unauthorized bookies.
According to a source close to Major League Baseball, the league has not received any communication from federal officials and was unaware of the situation until ESPN brought it up recently. The insider stated that, given the current federal investigation, MLB’s next course of action would be to gather facts, which may take some time.
Ohtani’s wire transfers were discovered by federal officials in January as part ofAccording to Mizuhara, he first met Bowyer in 2021 during a poker game in San Diego, and they later began placing credit bets together. By the end of 2022, Mizuhara calculated that his losses had increased to over $1 million and continued to rise.
“I’m not good at gambling. I promise not to do it again. Never took home any winnings “Mizuhara remarked. “I mean, I dug myself a hole, and I couldn’t get out of it without having to gamble more, so I just kept losing. It resembles the snowball effect.
Mizuhara said on Tuesday that once Ohtani consented to settle the bills, Ohtani went into his own computer and transmitted the wire transfers in phases over a few months, all under Mizuhara’s supervision.After an ESPN reporter questioned Ohtani’s camp regarding Mizuhara’s claim that Ohtani was there, assisted in moving the money, and would be reimbursed, the spokesman got in touch with Ohtani’s lawyers, who released a statement claiming Ohtani was the victim of a “massive theft.”
But on Wednesday afternoon, Mizuhara reversed most of what he had claimed late on Tuesday, saying that Ohtani was unaware of his gambling habits, debts, or attempts to pay them back.
“Obviously, this is all my fault, everything I’ve done,” he stated. “I’m ready to face all the consequences.”
Although Mizuhara did not have legal counsel, he stated that he was “working on it.” He claimed that on Wednesday afternoon, he independently spoke with ESPN.
However, he emphasized that heThe same U.S. attorney’s office that is investigating a massive federal money laundering and illegal gambling case in Las Vegas that attracted former minor league baseball star Wayne Nix is looking into Bowyer’s organization, multiple sources told ESPN. Nix, who had turned into a bookmaker in California, consented to enter a guilty plea in March 2022 for planning to run an illicit sports gambling enterprise and submitting a fictitious tax return. September is when he is expected to be sentenced. In connection with his bookmaking enterprise, four additional men entered guilty pleas.
In exchange for his plea, Nix acknowledged that he received about $1.5 million in revenue that he neglected to disclose to the IRS and that this income was related to gambling losses incurred by an MLB coach, an unidentified professional football player, and
