The Los Angeles Times broke a story on Wednesday afternoon saying that representatives of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani accused his interpreter of engaging in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation, reporting on the story were Gustavo Arellano, Adam Elmahrek, Nathan Fenno, and Paul Pringle.
The news came hours after the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Seoul, South Korea. Ohtani collected two hits in his debut with the Dodgers.
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Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract in the offseason with $680 million in deferred money, meaning Ohtani will be paid just $2 million per year for the next 10 years before getting the rest in installments from 2034 to 2043.
According to USA Today, he does have a clause in his contract that allows him to opt out if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman leaves the organization. Nothing has been reported specifically about Mazuhara being included in the clause about personnel.
Ohtani’s name had surfaced in the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident, and The Times began asking questions regarding Ippei Mizuhara’s, Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and friend, involvement.
Tisha Thompson of ESPN wrote that Mizuhara sent wire transfers of at least $4.5 million from Ohtani’s bank account to a bookmaking operation set off a series of events.
In a statement, the West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler, said, “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.”
ESPN reached out to Mizuhara to ask if he had been accused of theft, he said he was told he could not comment but declined to say by whom.
MLB gambling policy prohibits “any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee” from betting on the game or making illegal bets on other sports. The punishment for gambling with an illegal bookmaker or their agent isn’t specified in MLB rules, but is left up to “such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct.”
The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Mizuhara, a team spokesman told the Times.
Mizuhara spoke with ESPN on Tuesday in a 90-minute interview and said that Ohtani wasn’t happy about the situation but decided to pay off the debts. He also said that he had previously placed bets through DraftKings and assumed bets placed through Bowyer were legal.
“I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting,” Mizuhara told ESPN on Tuesday. “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.”
However, on Wednesday, Mizuhara backtracked and told ESPN that Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling debts and that Ohtani had not transferred money to the bookmaker’s associate.
Mizuhara told ESPN on Tuesday his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL, and college football.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara said. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
The U.S. attorney’s office in L.A., which is overseeing the investigation, did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.