Ultimate Fall Guy? Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara find themselves in a world of trouble with allegations of ‘massive theft’ and illegal sports betting

The Los Angeles Dodgers responded to the news by firing Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, after allegations were revealed that he committed “massive theft” against Ohtani to place illegal bets.

Mizuhara was accused by Ohtani’s legal team of stealing millions of dollars to place bets with Matthew Boyer, a resident of Orange County who was under investigation for being part of an illegal gambling scheme.   

Note: The gambling investigation is the same one that Yasiel Puig plead guilty to in 2022. At least a dozen people have been charged in connection with the probe. Bowyer has yet to be charged. 

After the Los Angeles Times learned that Ohtani’s name had come up as a part of the investigation, Mizuhara’s name was revealed. 

The LA Times then reached out to Ohtani’s camp and they responded saying that he was a victim of “massive theft” and authorities had already been contacted. 

“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,” West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler said in a statement.

Just yesterday, Mizuhara was still employed as Ohtani’s interpreter in Seoul, South Korea where the Los Angeles Dodgers opened up the 2024 season. He was fired later in the day after claims that he was “not truthful” were made public. 

Here’s where things start to get weird for Shohei Ohtani

According to ESPN, Mizuhara spoke with them on Tuesday about the situation and told them that Ohtani knew about his gambling problem. Mizuhara claimed that Ohtani paid his gambling debt on the interpreter’s behalf and when asked why Ohtani didn’t give the money directly to him rather than to the bookie, Mizuhara claimed that Ohtani wanted to ensure that the debt was paid off rather than him just taking it and gambling it away. 

Obviously at that point, the internet is claiming that Ohtani was the one actually gambling and that Mizuhara is serving as the ultimate “fall guy” for the best baseball player in the world. 

Regardless, Mizuhara definitely changed his story between ESPN and what was said afterwards to the media and Ohtani’s legal team and the fact that Ohtani made a direct payment to an illegal bookie already implicates him in what is obviously considered illegal activity.

Honestly, I don’t believe we know the entire story and we probably never will.

It more likely that Ohtani was being a good friend and simply covered Mizuhara’s debts, right? And now, attorneys are involved and they are doing their best song and dance to change the story so Ohtani isn’t directly implicated. 

Or a more sinister view on this would suggest that Ohtani got caught placing bets by the FBI and Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the FBI all got together and decided that this could look really bad (billions lost in marketing money) if the best baseball player in the world went down for illegally betting on sports. The solution would obviously be to have someone close to Ohtani (Mizuhara) take the fall. 

There’s just no way MLB would “Pete Rose” Ohtani. The illegal part here is the fact that Mizuhara was placing bets on an illegal book. It was mentioned that there were no bets on baseball and surely, that information is easily obtainable to prove that statement.

Update: As I’m about to post this article, it was released that Ohtani is not currently facing any discipline or believed to be under investigation by Major League Baseball for the Mizuhara gambling situation. 

Shohei Ohtani is not currently facing any discipline or believed to be under investigation by the league for the Ippei Mizuhara gambling situation, per @FabianArdaya pic.twitter.com/pHAbLIRJAQ

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 21, 2024

I really don’t care of Ohtani was betting on anything. The way every professional sports league and team has cozied up to legal sports books in America and then immediately punishes their employees (players) for gambling is pretty disgusting. 

If anything, this case should prove that the regulations against sportsbooks and professional athletes (if used legally) should be revisited and a new plan should be in place. Either that, or you get professional sports organizations to stop taking money from companies like DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM, among others.

I think we both know what’s more likely.

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