The Dodgers dismiss the translator for Shohei Ohtani due to accusations 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 translator, accrued the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking enterprise that is now the subject of a federal investigation. It all began when reporters began to grill him about the wire transactions.

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. However, the spokesperson refuted Mizuhara’s allegation and said Ohtani’s attorneys will provide a response when ESPN was ready to air the story on Wednesday.
“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,” said Berk Brettler LLP in a statement.
The spokesperson failed to respond to any further inquiries, and the statement did not identify the suspected theft perpetrator.
After the Berk Brettler remark, Mizuhara was questioned by ESPN on Wednesday afternoon whether 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 as federal authorities looked into the Southern California bookmaker Mathew Bowyer’s organization. Multiple sources and bank data that ESPN examined indicate that the wire transfers were made from Ohtani’s account to a Bowyer acquaintance. Ohtani does not gamble, according to a number of sources, including Mizuhara, who spoke with ESPN. The money also compensated Mizuhara’s losses.
ESPN had looked through bank records that indicated Ohtani’s name was on two checks for $500,000 that were delivered between September and October.
Sports betting is still prohibited in California, even though it is permitted in over 40 other states. Legal bookmakers take bets on credit, but government-regulated sportsbooks want bettors to pay up advance for their wagers.
According to those close to the gaming organization, Bowyer interacted directly with Mizuhara beginning in 2021. Mizuhara wagered on international soccer events 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 others into thinking Ohtani was a customer 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 further queries.
Mizuhara, 39, told ESPN during the scheduled interview on Tuesday on behalf of Ohtani’s spokesperson that he had urged Ohtani, 29, to settle his gambling debt last year, which some sources said had grown to a minimum of $4.5 million. Mizuhara claimed to have gambled on DraftKings in the past and to have thought that wagers made through Bowyer were legitimate.
“Obviously, he [Ohtani] wasn’t happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again,” Mizuhara said. “He decided to pay it off for me.”I want everyone to know that Shohei did not participate in any betting. Let people know that I was unaware that this was against the law. My lesson was hard-learned. I swear never to wager on sports again.”
However, 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 translator while speaking with coaches and club management, and they discuss scouting reports together while the game is in progress. Seldom are the two apart. An Ohtani teammate previously described Mizuhara and Ohtani as having a “brotherhood” that goes beyond friendship because of how much the pitcher relies on him to do errands, carry his water bottle, and be always there.
When Ohtani was a player with the Los Angeles Angels, Mizuhara was under contract; however, this summer, he joined with the Dodgers. Mizuhara said ESPN that his yearly compensation ranges from $300,000 to $500,000.
On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that he had gambled on college football, the NBA, the NFL, and international soccer.
“I never wager on baseball,” said Mizuhara. “That is entirely true. I was aware of that regulation. In spring training, we have a meeting to discuss it.”
MLB workers and players may wager on sports other than baseball, but they may not use offshore websites or illicit bookies. According to the league regulations, 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 matter until ESPN brought it up recently. The insider said that, given the current federal investigation, MLB’s next course of action would be to collect facts, which may take some time.
As part of their investigation into Bowyer’s bookmaking business, federal agents discovered Ohtani’s wire transfers in January, a source told ESPN. For two of the transactions, for a combined $500,000, ESPN examined the wire-transfer data; “Shohei Otani” appears next to a number of bank account and wire-transfer details as well as the phrase “loan.” The Japanese two-way player’s legal name is “Otani”.
Representatives from the Central District of California U.S. Attorney’s office refused to comment. Bowyer’s bookmaking associate’s lawyer refused to speak as well.
According to two sources, federal investigators have not been in touch with either Ohtani or Mizuhara.
Bowyer, 48, can be charged with a crime. October saw an FBI raid on his residence, according many accounts and papers that ESPN looked over. Agents confiscated cash, casino chips, banking papers, a money counting machine, many PCs, portable storage devices, and telephones, according to a search warrant inventory that ESPN was able to get. Two Breitling watches and about a dozen high-end purses from Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton were also taken by agents.
According to Mizuhara, he first met Bowyer in 2021 during a poker game in San Diego, and they subsequently 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.
Ohtani went into his own computer and submitted the wire transfers under Mizuhara’s supervision in increments over many months last year after he promised to settle the charges, the Japanese player claimed on Tuesday. “Loan” was added to the transactions’ description box.
According to Mizuhara, “We had to add a description for the wire.” “I think Matt [Bowyer] might have told me to just put ‘loan.’ You had to put something.”
When Mizuhara questioned Ohtani about why Ohtani didn’t just give him the money rather than paying Bowyer’s partner directly, Ohtani said that he didn’t trust him with it.
Mizuhara said, “He didn’t want me to gamble it away.”
Mizuhara claimed that he promised to reimburse Ohtani.
After an ESPN reporter questioned Ohtani’s camp about Mizuhara’s claim that Ohtani was there, assisted in moving the money, and would be reimbursed, the spokesperson 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 said. “I’m ready to face all the consequences.”
Although Mizuhara did not have legal counsel, he said that he was “working on it.” He said that on Wednesday afternoon, he independently talked with ESPN.
Still, he said that he had never placed a baseball wager.
The Dodgers started their season-opening series in South Korea on Wednesday, defeating the San Diego Padres 5-2. During the game, Mizuhara was seen in the Dodgers dugout. According to a Dodgers spokesman, Mizuhara talked to the clubhouse after the game and claimed responsibility, claiming he had an addiction to gambling and that a tale will be revealed.
In December, Ohtani inked a record-breaking $700 million, 10-year deal with the Dodgers, making him the highest-paid athlete in the history of North American sports. The bulk of the amount, $680 million, is postponed and will be paid in 2034 and 2043.
The 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, several 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 other persons entered guilty pleas.
In exchange for his plea, Nix acknowledged that he received about $1.5 million in income—connected to gambling losses incurred by an unidentified professional football player, an MLB coach, and a baseball analyst—that he neglected to declare to the IRS. As per the prosecution, Nix was informed by a sports announcer that he intended to pay off his gambling debts by refinancing his property.
Yasiel Puig, a former MLB right fielder, was accused in November 2022 of lying to federal criminal enforcement agents about betting on Nix’s enterprise. According to a representative for the U.S. attorney’s office, Puig’s case is still pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In January, after the Nix probe, Scott Sibella, the former president of the MGM Grand and Resorts World casinos in Las Vegas, also entered a guilty plea. As per the terms of his plea deal, Sibella acknowledged that Nix conducted an unlawful bookmaking enterprise; yet, she let Nix to use the illicit funds obtained from the illegal gambling operation to play at MGM Grand and its associated locations without informing the compliance department of the casino. MGM Grand and the Cosmopolitan casino agreed to pay $7.45 million in penalties in exchange for Sibella’s guilty plea.

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