Ohtani’s interpreter fired after allegations of ‘massive theft’
Mizuhara allegedly incurred millions in gambling debt
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers following allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese baseball star.
Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker.
The team is in Seoul, South Korea, this week as Ohtani makes his Dodgers debut, and Mizuhara was in the dugout during their season-opening win.
Mizuhara was seen regularly chatting with Ohtani, who was the Dodgers’ designated hitter, seemingly discussing his at-bats over a tablet computer.
“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,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.
Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.
Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.
On the same day the Mizuhara news broke, the Dodgers started the Ohtani era by beating the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Wednesday’s opener, Major League
Baseball’s first game in South Korea.
Ohtani’s RBI single capped a four-run eighth-inning rally in his Dodgers debut. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI. A crowd of 15,952 was on hand to watch at the Gocheok Sky Dome.
Hours after the game ended, the Dodgers said in a statement they were “aware of media reports and are gathering information” on Mizuhara.
“The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated,” the statement said. “The team has no further comment at this time.”
On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Mizuhara for comment Wednesday.
ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.
“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”
It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 198587 while playing for and managing the team.
The MLB gambling policy, posted in every locker room, prohibits players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also bans betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport.
The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion.