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Lee Jin Man/AP
Ippei Mizuhara, left, the interpreter of Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was fired from the team last week.
cnn
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Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is expected to address the media on Monday as Major League Baseball investigates theft allegations against its former performer.
“I’m happy he’s going to talk, talk about what he knows and give his opinion on the whole situation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Sunday. “I think it will give us a little more clarity.”
Roberts spoke before the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over Ohtani’s former team, the Los Angeles Angels. The teams meet again Monday at Dodger Stadium.
Ohtani’s long-time Japanese performer, Ippei Mizuhara, He was fired after Ohtani’s lawyers accused him of “massive theft” of millions of dollars and placing bets at a betting house under federal investigation, according to ESPN and the Los Angeles Timeswho first reported the story.
The scandal has overshadowed the start of the new MLB season, challenged the public’s understanding of one of baseball’s biggest stars and generated renewed scrutiny over the closeness of professional sports to gambling.
A lawyer for Mathew Bowyer, the former bookie under federal gambling-related investigation, said he never met or had “any direct contact” with Ohtani, but did do business with Mizuhara.
“Mathew Bowyer never spoke, emailed, texted or had any contact with Shohei Ohtani,” attorney Diane Bass told CNN in an on-camera interview Saturday.
The lawyer also said that Ohtani’s interpreter never bet on baseball.
MLB and the Internal Revenue Service are separately investigating the performer.
“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we became aware of the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the media,” the league said in a news release. last week. “Earlier today, our Investigations Department began its formal process of investigating the matter.”
The IRS Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Los Angeles is investigating both Mizuhara and Bowyer, IRS spokesman Scott Villiard told CNN on Friday. Bowyer is a California resident who, according to bankruptcy court documents, had gambling debts of $425,000 more than a decade ago.
Ohtani and Mizuhara first worked together from 2013 to 2017, when Mizuhara served as a translator for the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani’s team with Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League, according to MLB.com. When Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, he asked Mizuhara to join him as his translator in his rookie season, and Mizuhara eventually followed the star to the Dodgers, CNN previously reported.
ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, citing multiple Anonymous sources said on CNN’s “The Lead” on Wednesday that at least $4.5 million was withdrawn by wire transfer from Ohtani’s bank accounts, although it is unclear who initiated the transfers.
CNN has sought comment from Mizuhara and Ohtani’s agent. Ohtani’s lawyers have not detailed how they believe the funds were stolen, raising questions about the scandal that emerged when Ohtani made his long-awaited debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
03:03 – Source: CNN
MLB begins investigation into Ohtani allegations
Bass, Bowyer’s attorney, told CNN that his client dealt with Ippei Mizuhara.
Discussing Ohtani’s name on “one of the wire transfers to Bowyer’s organization to cover a bet,” Bass said Saturday, “as far as Mr. Bowyer understood, the bet was Ippei’s, or was being covered by the Mr. Ohtani for Ippei. .”
Bass emphasized that while Bowyer is under federal investigation, he has not been charged with any crime. He said Bowyer stopped his gambling operation in October 2023 when “the feds showed up at his house.”
Bowyer met Mizuhara after a Padres game in San Diego in 2022, according to Bass. She told CNN that she doesn’t know how often Mizuhara placed bets or how much he bet, but she said Bowyer told her that Mizuhara regularly placed bets “mostly on football, occasionally on soccer and basketball, but never on baseball.”
Mizuhara told ESPN on Tuesday: “I never bet on baseball… That’s 100 percent. I knew that rule. … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
Bass said Mizuhara’s gambling “got out of control at one point” but that he “was making regular payments for a significant period of time.”
When asked if the payments came from Mizuhara’s or Ohtani’s account, Bass responded: “I honestly don’t know how many transfers came from which account(s), (or) if it was more than one account. “I don’t have access to that information,” he told CNN.
Explanations and changing statements.
The saga began with journalists asking questions about alleged Bank transfers from Ohtani’s bank account. This is how the scandal unfolded:
• Mizuhara told ESPN in an interview Tuesday, arranged by Ohtani’s representative, that he asked Ohtani last year to pay off his gambling debt, ESPN reported. Ohtani did not participate in his gambling, Mizuhara said.
• But after the interview, Ohtani’s spokesman “disavowed” Mizuhara’s account and later issued a statement saying Ohtani had been a victim of robbery.
• The same day, Mizuhara was seen smiling in the Los Angeles dugout and talking to Ohtani before translating for the star on the team. 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in the MLB season opener in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday.
• Later on Wednesday, Mizuhara was fired as Ohtani’s performer.
• After learning of the allegations against Ohtani and Mizuhara, MLB announced Friday that it would conduct an investigation. The IRS also confirmed that it was investigating the translator.