Shortly after the Los Angeles Dodgers opened the Major League Baseball regular season with a 5–2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea, the club fired Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend following allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese star.
Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from The Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker.
“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,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.
Sports gambling is illegal in California, even though 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.
Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the United States in 2017. Mizuhara even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.
The Dodgers did not have an immediate comment Wednesday. Mizuhara’s firing was confirmed by Major League Baseball.
On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL, and college football. Major League Baseball rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering—even legally—on baseball and ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100 percent. I knew that rule … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Mizuhara for comment Wednesday.
Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. He attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from UC Riverside in 2007.
After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That’s where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.
After Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.
ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN reported that Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022, and his losses increased from there.
“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “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.”
It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for Major League Baseball by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win while playing for and managing the team from 1985–87.
Major League Baseball’s gambling policy is posted in every locker room. Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion.
Ohtani’s stardom has spread worldwide, even as the two-way player has remained largely media shy. The news of his recent marriage to Mamiko Tanaka shocked fans from Japan to the United States. While he underwent surgery on his right elbow last September and will not pitch this season, he will be used as a designated hitter and there is a possibility he could play in the field.
Ohtani had two hits in five at bats and drove in a run Wednesday in his Dodgers debut. The Dodgers and Padres meet again Thursday in Seoul before returning home.
By Stefanie Dazio, Ronald Blum, and Beth Harris
