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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Shohei Ohtani The interpreter is under criminal investigation by the IRS, and the lawyer for his alleged betting house said Thursday that the former Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer, but not baseball.
The IRS confirmed Thursday that performer Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles field office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesman Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details.
Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal betting house and his debts of more than $1 million. The news broke hours after Ohtani’s highly anticipated debut with the Dodgers in South Korea, where Mizuhara was constantly at the $700 million megastar’s side.
“In 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 authorities,” Ohtani’s law firm, Berk Brettler LLP, said in a statement Wednesday. The company declined to comment further the next day.
The sports game is illegal in california, even though 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it. The Associated Press was unable to reach Mizuhara for comment. It was unclear if she had hired an attorney.
AP correspondent Steve Wade reports on a gambling scandal that resulted in the firing of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter.
Diane Bass, Bowyer’s attorney, told the AP that Mizuhara was placing bets with Bowyer on international soccer, but not baseball.
“Mr. Bowyer never had any contact with Shohei Ohtani, in person, on the phone, in any way,” he said Thursday. “The only person he had contact with was Ippei.”
Bass confirmed the criminal investigation into Bowyer and said his home was searched in October. No charges have been filed. Operating a gambling business without a license is a federal crime.
“I have been in contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to try to resolve the case,” he said.
Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, playing him with the media and in other appearances since Ohtani arrived in the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby in the 2021 All-Star Game. . When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also signed Mizuhara.
The team was in Seoul this week as Ohtani made his debut with the Dodgers, and Mizuhara was in the Los Angeles dugout on Wednesday during their season-opening victory over San Diego. The pair seemed to be working well until the end of Wednesday’s game. Mizuhara was not with the team on Thursday.
The Dodgers said in a statement that they were “aware of media reports and are gathering information.
“The team can confirm that performer Ippei Mizuhara has been fired,” the statement said. “The team has no further comment at this time.”
Ohtani was in the lineup for Game 2 of the series on Thursday, hitting a single in the first inning as the Dodgers’ designated hitter. He The Dodgers lost 15-11.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Mizuhara had a meeting with the team on Wednesday, but declined to provide further details. He said that he did not know Mizuhara’s whereabouts and said that he was using a different interpreter.
“I can’t comment on that meeting,” Roberts said, adding that “Shohei is ready. I know he is preparing.”
Will Ireton, the Dodgers’ performance operations manager, took the mound in the first inning to translate for pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ireton was Kenta Maeda’s translator with the team from 2016 to 2018.
Security at the Gocheok Sky Dome was stepped up Thursday, with police and dogs checking the halls hours before the game began.
The news arrived from Ohtani’s interpreter. one day after a bomb threat report against Ohtani. Police said they found no explosives.
On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college soccer. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from betting (even legally on baseball) and also prohibit betting on other sports with illegal or foreign sportsbooks.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. “I knew that rule… We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, right, and his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara sit in the dugout during the opening baseball game against the San Diego Padres at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo / Lee Jin Man)
Mizuhara was seen regularly chatting with Ohtani during Wednesday’s game, apparently discussing his plate appearances via a tablet.
Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. She attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2007.
After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as a interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, she returned to Japan to translate for the English-speaking players of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. There she 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 that he is paid between $300,000 and $500,000 a year.
ESPN said it spoke with Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which time the performer said Ohtani had paid off his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. Following Ohtani’s lawyers’ statement saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story on Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to the betting houses. .
Mizuhara said it incurred more than $1 million in debt at the end of 2022 and its losses increased from there.
“I’m terrible (at playing). I’ll never do it again. I never made any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug a hole and it kept getting bigger, and that meant I had to bet more to get out of it and I kept losing. “It’s like a snowball effect.”
It would be the biggest betting scandal in baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an MLB investigation by attorney John Dowd found that Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win between 1985 and 1985. and 1987 while playing and managing the team. .
The MLB betting policy is posted in all locker rooms. Betting on baseball is punishable by a ban from playing the sport for one year. The penalty for illegally betting on other sports is at the discretion of the commissioner.
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Dazio reported from Los Angeles.