Shohei Ohtani, a world famous MLB baseball player, and his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara are involved in a gambling scandal.
Mizuhara was said to have been in debt up to around four million dollars. In early 2023, he asked Ohtani for help in paying off his debts. As it is against MLB rules to gamble, this was a serious problem.
In addition, there were questions about the fact that Mizuhara may have forced or even stolen money from Ohtani. Ohtani’s name was on the wire transfer, although he claims he had no idea that the money was going to a bookmaking operation.
Ohtani and Mizuhara have known each other for over ten years, with Mizuhara translating for Ohtani for around five of those years. Recently, Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers for 700 million dollars a year as his salary.
A timeline of the events starts at around 2021, when Mizuhara met Mathew Bowyer at a game. Bowyer was running a poker game, as well as the betting games. Mizuhara first placed bets with credit, and claimed he did not make any bets on baseball. In late 2022, Mizuhara’s debts start to exceed one million, and he has to borrow money from friends and family. In early 2023, his bets reached over four million dollars and he turned to Ohtani for help.
Their relationship was described as “peanut butter and jelly,” and based on the amount of time that they knew each other, it was evident that Mizuhara trusted him. Two transfers were made under Ohtani’s name, both to Bowyers and over one million dollars in value. They were sent in with the description “loan” attached to them both.
“Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies,” Ohtani said. “I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker.”
Due to the contracts of both players and team employees, it is forbidden for them to bet on baseball or any other sports games. As Mizuhara and Ohtani both violated these contracts, it could pose a very difficult situation for the MLB organization, as well as Ohtani.
Mizuhara spoke with the team after information was released to the public, and it came to light that he had a gambling addiction. Because of his actions, he was fired from his position and is no longer associated with the LA Dodgers or MLB. Ohtani will face no repercussions, as he did not know that his money was going to be used in a gambling ring.
“I think that he didn’t know how illegal what his translator was doing was. I think that he was just trying to help out his friend but I don’t think that he knew that he was in this illegal gambling ring and I don’t think that he participated himself,” Band Director Aaron Ovsiew said.
A spokesperson for Ohtani had a 90 minute interview where he shared that the debts had reached 4.5 million dollars, Mizuhara had begun betting by using DraftKings, a legal and sanctioned betting app that many use today. When his gambling addiction got worse and he had to borrow money from friends and family, it was because he had been betting with Mathew Bowyer, using a credit system.
"I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting," Mizuhara said during the interview, according to ESPN. "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."
On April 11th, 2024, federal agents discovered that Mizuhara had been taking the money straight from Ohtani’s bank account. This account was where the money for Ohtani’s contract goes. As Ohtani did not give Mizuhara permission to take the money, Mizuhara was also charged with bank fraud after stealing from Ohtani. It was also revealed that Mizuhara stole a total of 16 million dollars. The maximum amount of prison time for bank fraud is 30 years, and Mizuhara’s initial court hearing is on April 12th.
Officially, Mizuhara had stolen from Ohtani and used the money for gambling without Ohtani’s knowledge. Ohtani will face no punishment, but Mizuhara will be put on trial. He was excommunicated from the MLB and all connections with the LA Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox, and the MLB were cut. The MLB has vowed to watch players and their staff closer, to avoid this situation from occurring again.