Shohei Ohtani's Interpreter Linked to Illegal Sportsbook
A bombshell report from the Los Angeles Times released, in which Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani's interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been accused by Ohtani's lawyers of embezzling money and using it to place bets with an illegal sportsbook. Ohtani's name came up in an investigation into a Southern California sportsbook run by Matthew Boyer. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers today.
"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," in a statement released by Berk Brettler LLP, a West Hollywood law firm. Bowyer's attorney, Diane Bass, told ESPN that her client never met or spoke with Ohtani and declined further comment.
Mizuhara became Ohtani's interpreter when the latter signed with the Angels after the 2017 season. He joined the Dodgers when Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract.
According to this article from ESPN's Tisha Thompson, Mizuhara started betting on international soccer matches, NCAA football, NBA, and NFL, but not baseball with Bowyer's sportsbook since 2021. While sports gambling is now legal in 40 different states, California is not one of them. Over those three years, Mizuhara accumulated $4.5 million in gambling debt. Federal authorities found of two separate wire transfers of $500,000 each from Ohtani's account during their investigation into Bowyer.
This isn't the first time MLB has dealt with a major betting scandal, as Pete Rose comes to mind. Rose, who leads all MLB players with 4,256 career hits, was accused of betting on games as a player and manager and was permanently banned by MLB. While he fought the allegations when they first surfaced in 1989, he came clean in a book published nearly 15 years later.
Considering that there are transferred payments from the account of one of the greatest stars in the history of MLB, it's already a bad look for the game. Any link that goes beyond Mizuhara could be devastating for the sport.
