Dodgers Player Shohei Ohtani Victim Of ‘Massive Theft’ By Interpreter, Lawyers Claim
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter has been fired amid accusations he stole millions from the baseball player to place bets with an illegal gambling operation.
The claims came to light via Wednesday reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN. Lawyers responded to questions regarding $4.5 million in wire transfers from Ohtani’s accounts to Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County man being investigated by federal authorities for illegal bookmaking.
ESPN reports that Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, initially spoke to the network for a Tuesday interview, in which he claimed the athlete helped him pay off his seven-figure gambling debt.
While Ohtani’s representatives initially arranged ESPN’s conversation with Mizuhara, on Wednesday they disputed his claims to the network.
Shohei Ohtani appears beside Ippei Mizuhara before a game against the Chicago White Sox on February 27, 2024. Mizuhara is being accused of a “massive theft” against Ohtani. Christian Petersen via Getty Images
The statement did not specify if the claims were regarding Mizuhara.
That same Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Dodgers told the Los Angeles Times that Mizuhara had been fired.
In December, Ohtani signed a record-breaking $700 million, 10-year deal to come to the Dodgers after six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mizuhara and Ohtani first met in 2013, when they were working for a Japanese baseball team called the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
The interpreter was hired by the Angels after the team signed Ohtani in 2017, and he moved to the U.S. in 2018, according to a 2021 profile by Nippon.com.
Mizuhara also served as the interpreter for former Boston Red Sox player Hideki Okajima.
Watch Shohei Ohtani And Mike Trout’s ‘Storybook’ End To World Baseball Classic
The MLB megastars dueled each other in a moment that seized the world’s attention.
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For a tournament that some critics say doesn’t really matter, the World Baseball Classic really mattered on Tuesday. (Watch the video below.)
Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, who are normally teammates on the Angels and are arguably MLB’s best players, made that possible with an epic showdown in the ninth inning of the title game.
Ohtani was facing Trout at the plate with two outs, the count full and Ohtani’s Japan team leading Trout’s U.S. squad, 3-2.
It was Ohtani, the two-way megastar, who got the better of Trout, striking him out to give Japan the victory and the championship in Miami.
“I believe this is the best moment in my life,” Ohtani said, per ESPN.
Media outlets also appreciated the magnitude of the moment. USA Today’s For the Win called the “storybook” conclusion “sports drama at its finest.” “How the WBC needed to end,” SB Nation wrote. MLB.com deemed it “the strikeout heard ’round the world.”
SHOHEI OHTANI STRIKES OUT MIKE TROUT TO WIN THE #WORLDBASEBALLCLASSIC! pic.twitter.com/F7vUtIiRR1
— MLB (@MLB) March 22, 2023
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