Shohei Ohtani's interpreter fired by Dodgers after allegations of 'massive theft' from Japanese star

LOS ANGELES -

Shohei Ohtani's interpreter and close friend has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers following allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese baseball star.

Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker. The team is in Seoul, South Korea this week as Ohtani makes his Dodgers debut, and Mizuhara was in Los Angeles' dugout during their season-opening win.

"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," law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.

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Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani's constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani's catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a US$700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.

The Dodgers said in a statement they were "aware of media reports and are gathering information.

"The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated," the statement said. "The team has no further comment at this time."

Ohtani was in the lineup for the second game of the series Thursday, hitting a single in the first inning as the Dodgers' designated hitter.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Mizuhara had a meeting with the team on Wednesday but declined to elaborate. He said he did not know Mizuhara's whereabouts and said a different interpreter was being used.

"Anything with that meeting, I can't comment," Roberts said, adding that "Shohei's ready. I know that he's preparing."

Will Ireton, the Dodgers' manager of performance operations, went to the mound in the first inning to translate for pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ireton was Kenta Maeda's translator with the team from 2016-18.

Security at the Gocheok Sky Dome was stepped up Thursday, with police and dogs checking the hallways hours before the game started.

The Ohtani-interpreter news came a day after a reported bomb threat against Ohtani. Police said they found no explosives.

On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering -- even legally -- on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

"I never bet on baseball," Mizuhara told ESPN. "That's 100 per cent. I knew that rule ... We have a meeting about that in spring training."

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Mizuhara for comment Wednesday.

Ohtani's stardom has spread worldwide, even as the two-way player has remained largely media-shy. The news of his recent marriage to Mamiko Tanaka shocked fans from Japan to the U.S. While he underwent surgery on his right elbow last September and will not pitch this season, he will be used as a DH and there is a possibility he will play in the field. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI in his Dodgers debut.

Mizuhara was seen regularly chatting with Ohtani during Wednesday's game, seemingly discussing his plate appearances over a tablet computer.

Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. He attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2007.

After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That's where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.

After Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.

ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara's request. After the statement from Ohtani's attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.

"I'm terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money," Mizuhara said. "I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It's like a snowball effect."

It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.

The MLB gambling policy is, posted in every locker room. Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner's discretion.