On Wednesday, The Los Angeles Times reported that representatives for Shohei Ohtani are accusing the Dodger superstar’s interpreter of stealing his money to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker.
Ohtani’s lawyers allege that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara engaged in “massive theft” from the slugger/pitcher that’s believed to be in the millions of dollars. The attorneys made this claim after The Times came across Ohtani’s name in an investigation of Orange County resident Mathew Bowyer, who is the bookmaker Mizuhara allegedly used to bet on sports.
“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,” the West Hollywood law firm of Berk Brettler said in a statement.
In an DraftKings before and assumed his bets with Bowyer were legal.
“I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting,” Mizuhara, who was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday, told ESPN. “I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. … I’m terrible [at gambling.] Never going to do it again. Never won any money. 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.”
Mizuhara added that he bet on several sports but never baseball, and an attorney for Bowyers, whose home was reportedly raided by federal agents in October, said he has never had any with Ohtani. Unlike in most of the United States, sports betting is not legal in California.
The allegations surrounding Ohtani mark the third time in as many years that a prominent L.A. athlete has been at least tangentially involved in an illegal gambling investigation, with situations involving LeBron James’ business manager preceding the current imbroglio.
