The Los Angeles Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the long-time interpreter of its superstar Shohei Ohtani, following allegations of theft tied to illegal gambling. A team spokesman confirmed that the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Mizuhara on Wednesday. 

The Los Angeles Times reported that representatives of Ohtani accused Mizuhara of engaging in a "massive theft" of the Japanese baseball star's funds to place bets with an alleged illegal bookmaker.

Interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers Star Shohei Ohtani Terminated

According to ESPN, Ippei Mizuhara transferred at least $4.5 million from Shohei Ohtani's bank account to an associate of Orange County bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who is under federal investigation for a multimillion-dollar illegal sports betting scheme.

In a statement, 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."

Mizuhara told ESPN on Tuesday that he did not know that sports betting was illegal and assumed that the bets placed through Bowyer were legal. He also said he only placed bets on the NBA, NFL, international soccer, and college football and "never" on baseball.

Mizuhara further noted that the Dodgers star was aware of it as he had asked him to pay off his enormous debt, and "he decided to pay it off for me."

But on Wednesday afternoon, the interpreter changed his story and told ESPN that Ohtani was unaware of his gambling debts and had not transferred money to the bookmaker's associate.

Bowyer's lawyer, Diane Bass, also told ESPN that his client has "never met or spoke with Shohei Ohtani." According to the BBC, sports betting is allowed in 38 states in the US, but it remains illegal in California.

Major League Baseball has its own gambling policy, which prohibits "any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee" from betting on any baseball game and placing bets with illegal bookmakers. 

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Shohei Ohtani's Interpreter and Bookmaker

Ippei Mizuhara told ESPN he met Mathew Bowyer at a poker game in San Diego in 2021 and began betting with him on credit later that year. His losses reportedly reached over $1 million by the end of 2022 and inflated from there.

Mizuhara has been Shohei Ohtani's personal interpreter since the Japanese baseball star came to the US in 2017 when Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels. When Ohtani left the Angels to sign a $700 million 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the league also hired Mizuhara.

Mizuhara met Ohtani while working as an English-language interpreter for US players on Ohtani's Japanese team in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

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