MLB star Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara allegedly incurred massive gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation.
A spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN that at least $4.5 million in wire transfers were sent from Ohtani’s bank account to the bookmaking operation in question.
Federal investigators are examining Mathew Bowyer’s bookmaking operation and even raided his home in Orange County last October as part of the investigation. The wire transfers were apparently sent to an associate of Bowyer’s.
Mizuhara spoke with ESPN Tuesday and suggested that the funds covered his own gambling losses, but also said that Ohtani does not gamble. However, as ESPN prepared to publish a story based on its 90-minute interview with Mizuhara on Tuesday night, Ohtani’s spokesman disavowed Mizuhara’s account and said Ohtani’s lawyers would issue a statement alleging theft.
“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 a statement from West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara on Wednesday, according to a team spokesman. Mizuhara had been Ohtani’s personal interpreter since late 2017 when Ohtani signed with the Angels.
Mizuhara told ESPN that he met Bowyer in 2021 at a poker game in San Diego, and started betting with him on credit later that year. He allegedly placed bets on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL, and college football through Bowyer, but did not bet on baseball. Ohtani’s name was on the wire transfers, but Bowyer’s attorney Diane Bass also told ESPN that “Mr. Bowyer never met or spoke with Shohei Ohtani.”
Mizuhara admitted that his losses had “a snowball effect” and that he kept digging himself into a deeper hole of debt, so he asked Ohtani to help out.
“He decided to pay it off for me.”
Mizuhara also suggested that Ohtani logged onto his own personal computer and sent the wire transfers manually because Ohtani didn’t want Mizuhara to gamble the money away if he had given it to him directly.
Ohtani’s attorneys issued the statement alleging the “massive theft” when an ESPN reporter inquired about this aspect of Mizuhara’s testimony. This triggered Mizuhara to recant his own admissions, saying Wednesday that Ohtani actually had no knowledge of his gambling debt or efforts to repay it.
Defending Ohtani
In his 90-minute interview with ESPN, Mizuhara defended Ohtani’s innocence and tried to protect his own integrity too:
“I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again.”
The MLB rulebook permits players and employees to bet on sports other than baseball but only with legal sportsbooks and not with offshore websites or illegal bookmakers. A source close with the league told ESPN that federal authorities have yet to contact the MLB and that the league was not aware of the situation until ESPN raised it in recent days.
Ohtani and the Dodgers are in South Korea to kick off the 2024 MLB season with a series against the Padres. Mizuhara was spotted in the Dodgers’ dugout during the team’s 5-2 victory on Wednesday, and a Dodgers spokesperson said Mizuhara addressed the clubhouse after the game to alert them to the news that was about to come out.
It is a tough break for a relationship between Ohtani and Mizuhara that has been called a “brotherhood” by a former Ohtani teammate. The duo have been essentially inseparable since Ohtani broke into the league and Mizuhara has become highly recognizable to baseball fans for his presence in dugouts, locker rooms, player lounges, in media settings, and elsewhere around the game.
