Thread: Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani's interpreter amid allegation of 'massive theft'

The Los Angeles Dodgers interpreter for Shohei Ohtani was fired Wednesday afternoon after questions surrounding at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from Ohtani's bank account to a bookmaking operation set off a series of events.

Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime friend and interpreter for Ohtani, incurred the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation, multiple sources told ESPN. How he came to lose his job started with reporters asking questions about the wire transfers.

Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement.

rest - https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...er-fired-theft

Something seems sus in that story. I like Ohtani, but I have serious questions here. Who gives their friend $4.5M to cover gambling debts? Then the lawyers swoop in an essentially shut everything down.

Oof, anyway you slice this it's pretty ugly.

I don’t like it.

The only way I see Ohtani being exonerated in the eyes of MLB, there would have to be proof that his interpreter was also guilty of something along the lines of computer hacking, which I believe is a much more severe crime. If this interpreter didn’t, and Ohtani is making this up to save his MLB career, then he’s guilty filing a false police report which I know is a very severe crime.

This story has legs folks. Strap in and hold on. Sorry Kinger, this has to be shitty to watch as a Dodger fan.

My guess is that the MLB will do absolutely everything in their power to bury this. The interpreter will eventually take the full and for all intents and purposes this will go away, but in the minds of fans and the public this will be a forever stain. Unless some sort of bulletproof evidence comes out totally vindicating Ohtani, this will mar his career from an image perspective but he will probably be given as much shielding as possible by MLB.

It's not good no matter how you slice it.

If only I cared about baseball, I might give two shi7s.

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

If only I cared about baseball, I might give two shi7s.

This has potential, with a domino or two falling into being the biggest sports story since Aaron Hernandez.

This thing is on the razors edge of being a monumental story.

The fishiest part to me is that they claimed it was a loan at first and then immediately pivoted to "it was stolen" as soon as the gambling issue came up. It does certainly seem like running cover.

I really hope it is as simple as a guy defrauding his rich boss because this could be very detrimental to a sport I love and I also like Shohei, he's the most Unicorn baseball player in my lifetime and he's damn fun to watch. I do hate the Dodgers though. But my love for the game itself trumps my hate for the Dodgers.

Eh, MLB owes us after the Astros fiasco. Plus we subsidize half the MLB.

But yeah, Ohtani was probably doing some ****** up shit.

Or not!

Vindication!!!!!!!!!

Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, has been charged with bank fraud and accused of stealing more than $16 million from the Dodgers superstar to "finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting," prosecutors said on April 11. Mizuhara allegedly siphoned millions from Ohtani's bank account, to which he had direct access, to fund his sports gambling, which is illegal in California. Between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara allegedly lost more than $40 million across about 19,000 individual bets, according to a criminal complaint filed in April as part of a joint investigation by the Internal Revenue Service's criminal division, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

rest - https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/s...ara-stole-16m/