LOS ANGELES — Main League Baseball introduced Friday that it has opened an investigation following allegations involving Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, who has been on the middle of a possible theft and sports activities betting scandal this week.
The MLB stated in a press release that the group has been “gathering info since we realized concerning the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the information media.”
The MLB’s Division of Investigations started a “formal course of investigating the matter” on Friday, it stated. It didn’t present extra details about what it’s investigating.
Representatives for Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Friday concerning the MLB investigation. An e-mail to Mizuhara didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.
Mizuhara was fired from his publish with the Dodgers after Berk Brettler LLP, attorneys for Ohtani, stated the athlete was the sufferer of a “large theft” in a case tied to sports activities playing.
“The Dodgers are conscious of media reviews and are gathering info. The staff can affirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated. The staff has no additional remark presently,” a press release from the staff launched early Thursday stated.
The scandal was first reported Wednesday by The Los Angeles Occasions and ESPN. In response to ESPN, the interpreter’s firing got here after questions from the media about his alleged ties to unlawful playing.
The allegations towards Mizuhara centered particularly on wire transfers from Ohtani’s account — totaling at the least $4.5 million, made in at the least 9 funds of $500,000 — to a bookmaking operation in Southern California that’s at present underneath federal investigation and which was allegedly run by Matthew Bowyer of Orange County, California, an individual conversant in Ohtani and Mizuhara’s interactions instructed NBC Information.
These wire transfers had been despatched from Ohtani’s account to an affiliate of Bowyer’s, the particular person stated.
At first, the particular person stated Mizuhara instructed Ohtani’s private staff that he had been playing and racked up a considerable amount of debt, prompting him to ask Ohtani to bail him out.
Mizuhara reportedly stated on the time that Ohtani was upset and offended with him as a result of the two-way star hates betting, however that he finally agreed to pay the money owed so long as Mizuhara by no means gambled once more, in line with the particular person acquainted.
On Wednesday, after the Dodgers confronted the San Diego Padres in a season opener in Seoul, the particular person stated Mizuhara instructed the staff to count on media reviews on his playing.
The supply stated Ohtani understood sufficient of Mizuhara’s announcement to know he was referring to one thing about playing and pushed his interpreter for extra info.
As media inquiries rolled in, Mizuhara modified his story, the particular person stated, and admitted to Ohtani’s agent and representatives that the unique story was a lie.
As an alternative, Mizuhara stated Ohtani had no information of his playing or his money owed. Mizuhara allegedly stole the large sum from Ohtani, in line with the supply, authorizing the wire transfers from Ohtani’s account to the affiliate within the bookmaking operation over a time frame final yr with out Ohtani’s participation or information.
Authorities have formally been knowledgeable, the supply stated, with out specifying additional.
At the very least 4 legislation enforcement companies — together with the Los Angeles Police Division, the Orange County Sheriff’s Division, the Anaheim Police Division and the Newport Seaside Police Division — instructed NBC Information they don’t have any document or info relating to the submitting of a police or crime report by Ohtani in places tied to the place he lives, performs or has a registered enterprise.
NBC Information has reached out to Mizuhara looking for remark concerning the allegations.
The pair first met in Japan in 2013, when Mizuhara was serving as an interpreter for the Hokkaidō Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league. Ohtani joined the staff as a rookie in 2013, Nippon.com reported.
When Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, he introduced Mizuhara with him as his private interpreter.
Mizuhara grew to become greater than an interpreter to Ohtani through the years, in line with the particular person conversant in their interactions. He was thought-about a longtime pal of Ohtani’s and served as a gatekeeper for the baseball star.
The Dodgers face the St. Louis Cardinals of their subsequent common season recreation on March 28.
Diana Dasrath reported from Los Angeles and Rebecca Cohen from New York Metropolis.