MLB announced Friday that it has begun an investigation into the Shohei Ohtani translation scandal that rocked the baseball world this week.
The story came to light on Wednesday, when Otani's lawyer released a statement accusing his longtime interpreter and friend Ippei Mizuhara of “mass theft.” Later, ESPN reported that Ohtani's camp told the outlet that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar had agreed to repay the $4.5 million he owed gambling money for Mizuhara, but the camp said Wednesday that Mizuhara had disowned him. It became clear that it did.
In a 90-minute interview with ESPN, Mizuhara detailed how Ohtani allegedly paid off gambling debts with wire transfers, which is a federal crime and could violate MLB rules. There is. He recanted that story on Wednesday, insisting that Ohtani knew nothing about his gambling.
When the story broke, the Dodgers immediately fired Mr. Mizuhara, who had worked for the Dodgers during the series in Korea.
Below is the full statement from MLB, which misspelled Mizuhara's last name and was released at 5:56 p.m. ET during the first round of March Madness.
“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since learning of the allegations regarding Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhari (sic) from the media. Earlier today, our Department of Investigation (DOI) announced that We have begun a formal investigation.”
There was no word on the sideline for Ohtani, who made his Dodgers debut earlier this week and is scheduled to play in the team's stateside opener next Thursday in Los Angeles.
MLB investigators say multiple and conflicting stories have swirled around the league's rookie who signed a $700 million contract with the Dodgers last offseason after winning his second career AL MVP award. He will be tasked with sorting out the scandal.
The IRS also announced that it was investigating Mizuhara and Matthew Bowyer, an illegal bookmaker to whom Mizuhara allegedly owed money.
Otani's campaign has reportedly asked authorities to investigate Mizuhara, but ESPN reported early Friday that neither the California Bureau of Investigation nor the FBI, nor law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles and Orange counties are currently working on the case. Reported. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California reportedly declined comment.
Shohei Otani's translation scandal remains confusing
Unanswered questions and the changing narrative surrounding Ohtani have sparked widespread speculation over the past two days. Even ESPN seems to be having a hard time sorting out how the facts are being reported from two continents.
On Friday, the outlet published a timeline of how it approached the matter, but there still remains a lot of uncertainty about how and why the Ohtani camp took action. There is.
ESPN reported that the network contacted Ohtani's agent, Nez Valero, and revealed information: two cases totaling $1 million that were uncovered in a federal investigation into Bowyer's alleged illegal gambling activities. Ohtani reportedly asked about the fact that Ohtani's name was listed on the wire transfer. . Two and a half hours later, a recently hired crisis communications spokesperson responded.
Three hours later, the spokesperson said Valero had approached Mizuhara and Otani, with the former allegedly “confessing” that Otani had covered the debt, and the latter saying he had covered the debt, possibly in increments of $500,000. Ru. Ohtani reportedly said, “Yeah, I sent a lot of money a few times. That's the most I can send.''
Importantly, these questions were reportedly posed to Otani through Mizuhara.
Then, in the first Mizuhara interview, Ohtani went into more detail about how he had deliberately paid off his gambling debts. ESPN's timeline revealed some new details from that 90-minute conversation. For example, Ohtani's former Los Angeles Angels teammate David Fletcher, now a member of the Atlanta Braves, was allegedly present at the poker game where Mizuhara allegedly met Bowyer.
A strange change was in the reports regarding Mizuwon's salary. Mizuhara was initially reported to have told ESPN that he was making between $300,000 and $500,000 a year from the Angels and Dodgers, but Friday's timeline revealed that by the time he met with Bowyer in 2021, he was making $80,000 from the Angels. He claims he only made $5,000.
“I couldn't share this with Shohei. I had a hard time making ends meet. I was living paycheck to paycheck,” Mizuhara says. “I needed to keep up with his lifestyle, but at the same time I didn't want to tell him this.”
As for how he allegedly asked Ohtani for help, Ohtani said he didn't know it was to cover illegal gambling losses:
When Otani asked if he knew that the person he owed money to was a bookmaker, Mizuhara told his friend, “I had no clue.''
“I just told them I needed to send a wire to pay off my debt,” Mizuhara says. “He didn't ask if it was illegal, and he didn't question me about it.”
The excrement hit a fan on Wednesday, shortly after the Dodgers won their season opener against the San Diego Padres in South Korea.
Dodgers team owner Mark Walter told his players that negative stories were coming, Mizuhara told the room that he had a gambling addiction, and President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman told Ohtani The athlete reportedly said that he helped cover Mizuwon's losses.
The latter point was clearly new to Otani.
On the way back to the hotel, Ohtani began asking questions about what was said in the clubhouse, during which Ohtani told ESPN that he did not know Mizuhara's interpretation, a spokesperson for Ohtani told ESPN. It is said that someone spoke. Dodgers officials and Ohtani's publicist said Ohtani's representatives continued to rely on Mizuhara to communicate with Ohtani while the situation was handled, but Mizuhara did not tell Ohtani what was going on. .
A spokesperson for Otani said he first noticed money missing from his account on Wednesday.
Mizuhara was fired immediately and later told ESPN that he had lied to Ohtani. However, he denied misleading Otani while interpreting and refused to answer whether he withdrew money from Otani's bank account without his knowledge.
Ohtani's former Angels teammate is shocked, can't believe he was betting on sports
This whole situation was especially surreal for Ohtani's former Angels teammates, with whom Mizuhara would also have worked.
They told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that they didn't seem to buy the so-far unsubstantiated theory that this was all a cover story for Ohtani's own gambling.
“It's weird,” said left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who has spent more time with Ohtani than anyone else over the past five seasons. “That's all I can really say about it. It's really weird.”
The players didn't want to go on the record, but privately they all agreed that Ohtani didn't seem interested in other sports. This would seem to support Mizuhara's claim that he is not betting on Ohtani, but on himself. Mizuhara also reportedly said there were no bets about baseball.
Mizuhara has also repeatedly denied that Ohtani gambled, one of the few things in his story that remains constant. From ESPN:
When asked if he planned to pay Otani back, Mizuhara said he told his friend that he planned to pay the money back. Ohtani also added that he has never gambled and “thinks gambling is scary.”
“He would see people and his teammates gambling all the time and say, 'Why do they do this? Gambling is not good.'”
Mr Bowyer, the bookmaker involved, also said he had never met or spoken to Ohtani.
