Ippei Mizuhara's Bookie Believes Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Knew About His Gambling

The Los Angeles Dodgers were extremely fortunate to sign Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract ahead of the 2024 season, but what was easily a dream moment for the franchise was clouded by a nightmarish saga with a now former interpreter.

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Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani's former interpreter, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing almost $17 million from the three-time MVP and impersonating him when trying to withdraw stolen money from the bank for his illegal sports betting endeavors.

The man that was running this illegal bookmaking operation is Mathew Bowyer.

Bowyer's sentencing is still yet to be decided as it has been delayed to Oct. 3, but he faces 18 years in prison. Since he didn't steal from the best baseball player on the planet and commit bank fraud, he expects a lighter penalty than Mizuhara.

Bowyer spoke to USA Today's Bob Nightengale regarding whether or not Ohtani knew what was going on with his former interpreter, and about the illegal gambling as a whole.

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“I know the whole world wants to know," Bowyer said, “but to this day, I truly don’t know. They are the only two people in the world who really know the truth, Shohei and Ippei. I truly believe that Shohei doesn’t gamble, but I think he knew some area of demise with Ippei, just maybe not to that extent."

As for the possibility of the three-time MVP knowing about the illegal actions his interpreter was doing, Bowyer left the door open — but as a gambler himself, he knew the signs that one displays when they're in a hole like Mizuhara was.

“It’s definitely possible Ohtani didn’t know anything, but plausible is a different answer," Bowyer said. “I gambled bigger than most. I hid my emotions better than most. But you can only hide so much when you’re in serious turmoil. And clearly, he was in serious turmoil.

“And if you really could hide that from his best friend for so long – then how could Shohei Ohtani not see $17 million gone from his account?"

Before Ohtani's $700 million mega deal, he had made over $40 million from the Angels alone. This isn't counting his professional earnings from Japan and his countless endorsements.

One bookie's theory of how Ohtani could have known isn't exactly the same as the federal government clearing Ohtani's name. Not to mention, an investigation by MLB also found Mizuhara never made a single baseball-related bet.

As complex as this story was and as difficult as it must have been for Ohtani to find out one of his closest allies was secretly involved in a stunt stealing millions from his account, he followed it up by having a historic first year in Los Angeles and ending it with his first World Series trophy.

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