Major League Baseball has announced that it has begun an investigation into the activities of Shohei Ohtani’s friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
Reports have surfaced about $4.5 million in wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account that were allegedly used to pay off Mizuhara’s gambling debts.
The league says its department of investigations ‘began their formal process of looking into the matter’ earlier on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, new details emerged in the ongoing saga between Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mizuhara.
Ohtani’s representatives say they have filed a claim with law enforcement to open an investigation.
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara (L) is now under investigation by MLB
In an interview with ESPN, Mizuhara says Ohtani helped him, through a wire transfer, pay off $4.5 million in gambling debts he racked up in an illegal gambling operation
But sources told ESPN that neither the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County or Orange County district attorneys, the California Bureau of Investigation or the FBI were working on the case. ESPN said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California declined to comment.
ESPN released an updated timeline of events — revealing they had followed a tip for months before finally asking questions about it Monday while Ohtani was with the Dodgers in South Korea.
After trying to get in touch with Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, ESPN reporters were later contacted by a crisis communications spokesman recently hired by the outfielder.
That spokesman says Ohtani paid off Mizuhara’s debt and that Balelo confronted the interpreter — who came clean. The spokesman then quoted Ohtani as saying: ‘Yes, I sent several large payments. That’s the maximum amount I could send.’
Mizuhara eventually spoke with an ESPN reporter one-on-one for about an hour and a half — explaining how he began meeting and playing with Mathew Bowyer, whose illegal gambling operation is how this was exposed.
The interpreter claimed he did not know Bowyer’s operation was illegal – and that his debt grew to $4 million by early 2023. That’s when he said he went to Ohtani for help, explained his situation and that Ohtani said he wanted to help me’.
Mizuhara was asked if Ohtani – who has been vocal against gambling – knew he was in debt to a bookie, to which the interpreter replied that Ohtani ‘had no idea’.
After Ohtani sent the money off, Mizuhara told ESPN that he promised he would send his friend all the money back eventually.
But when confronted, Mizuhara admitted he lied in his previous interview and to Ohtani
Ohtani did not know the money had been withdrawn from his accounts until Wednesday
The Dodgers opened their season in Seoul – with a 5-2 win over the Padres. After that game, Dodgers officials explained the situation to the clubhouse — saying Ohtani helped cover Mizuhara’s loss and that the story would soon hit the press.
But Ohtani began questioning what was said — and told his representatives that he did not recognize Mizuhara’s account of events.
Dodgers officials and Ohtani’s spokesman said they had trusted Mizuhara to communicate with Ohtani as they handled the situation — and that Mizuhara did not tell Ohtani what happened. It was on that Wednesday that Ohtani claims he first discovered money missing from his account.
With information from Ohtani’s camp claiming ‘Ippei is lying,’ ESPN awaited a statement. Finally, it came from Ohtani’s lawyers, who said Shohei had ‘been the victim of a massive theft and we are contacting the authorities’. Mizuhara is then fired shortly after the statement is released.
ESPN caught up with Mizuhara again, where he admits to lying in his previous interview. He denies over the phone that his is represented by Ohtani’s people, that he is not being paid to say this and that he has not made any deals. He confirms that he lied to Shohei and denies playing baseball.
When ESPN asked, ‘did you take the money from Shohei’s accounts without his knowledge?’, Mizuhara does not answer.
Ohtani’s spokespeople say Mizuhara was able to verify information relayed to him through his position as a translator — and that Ohtani didn’t realize what was happening until the clubhouse meeting after the game, when a new interpreter was brought in.