Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani’s debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday was spoiled by one of the highest-profile gambling scandals in recent history: the revelation of $4.5 million he allegedly paid to an illegal California bookie to cover his translator’s sports-betting debts.
While investigating an illegal gambling ring out of Orange County, federal prosecutors uncovered Ohtani’s name attached to two $500,000 wire transfers sent to a serial bookie named Mathew Bowyer, which ESPN reported were confirmed by bank statements. ESPN cited multiple sources who confirmed the payments were made to cover Ohtani’s translator Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling losses.
Ohtani, who is Japanese and doesn’t speak fluent English, has been inseparable from Mizuhara since he made his MLB debut for the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. Mizuhara translates for Ohtani at press conferences and team meetings, but the two have also been known to spend significant time together off the field and have a strong personal relationship, as the LA Times first reported.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara on Wednesday afternoon after reports of the gambling debt surfaced. Mizuhara said in an interview with ESPN on Tuesday that he had started by betting through DraftKings before placing bets with Bowyer, who he believed was operating illegally. Mizuhara’s debts soon grew to over $4.5 million.
In the initial interview on Tuesday, Mizuhara said he had asked Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers last year, to pay off his debts to Bowyer. Yesterday, though, he backtracked on his initial explanation and offered a different account, saying Ohtani had never been aware of his gambling and had not paid off his debts, offering no explanation for the two confirmed $500,000 payments. Ohtani hasn’t yet commented on whether he knew about Mizuhara’s gambling.
“Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” Ohtani’s lawyers with the firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement.
MLB policy strictly prohibits athletes from gambling on baseball games, although they’re allowed to bet on other sports. Mizuhara said he never placed any bets on baseball games. Even as legalized sports gambling has spread across the country, California is one of a shrinking number of states where sports betting is still illegal, which is why Mizuhara’s bets he placed through Bowyer were investigated in the first place.
“Obviously, this is all my fault, everything I’ve done,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “I’m ready to face all the consequences.”
Ohtani, a MLB superstar who won his second Most Valuable Player award last year, made his debut for the Dodgers this week in a game against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, Korea. He declined to comment to reporters after the game. The Dodgers will return to the U.S. for the first home game of the season against the Angels, Ohtani’s former team, on Sunday.