He is fired ….
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter was sacked by the Los Angeles Dodgers, an MLB franchise, after Ohtani’s lawyers claimed their client had been the victim of “a massive theft” involving alleged millions of dollars.
“The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated,” a Dodgers representative from Seoul, South Korea, where the team is presently playing, said in an email to the AFP news agency on Thursday.
Earlier, legal firm Berk Brettler LLP released the following statement in response to reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN regarding Mizuhara’s suspected connections to an illegal bookmaker: “We are investigating the matter after learning that Shohei was the victim of a significant theft during our response to recent media inquiries turned over to the law enforcement officials.”
Ohtani is currently the highest-paid player in baseball, and he has a tremendous fan base in Asia. He is a two-time American League MVP and a rare combination of strength as a pitcher and hitter.
Since Ohtani’s arrival in the US in 2017, 39-year-old Mizuhara has served as the Japanese star’s interpreter and frequent companion. When the two initially got together in 2013, Mizuhara was working as an interpreter for English-speaking Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players in Japan.
This week, he acknowledged to ESPN that he had been betting on sports against MLB regulations, accruing debt of more than $1 million, which he requested Ohtani settle on his behalf.
Ohtani’s lawyers claimed that the athlete was a victim of theft, and Mizuhara allegedly altered his tale to assert Ohtani had not sent any money to bookies and was unaware of the gambling debts.
Mizuhara said, “I’m terrible [at gambling],” adding that he had never won any money. “I kept losing because I dug myself a bigger hole, which required me to place more bets in order to escape. It resembles the snowball effect.
Mizuhara declared that he “never bet on baseball,” but he did wager on college football, the NBA, the NFL, and European football. That is true to the fullest. That rule was known to me. In spring training, we have a meeting to discuss that.”
However, MLB regulations also forbid players and staff members from using offshore bookmakers to wager on other sports. The MLB’s gambling policy is displayed in each locker room and stipulates that violations would result in extended suspensions.
The largest baseball gambling scandal is the Mizuhara case after it was discovered that Pete Rose had wagered on the Cincinnati Reds throughout his time as the team’s manager and player in the 1980s.
