Shohei Ohtani’s Interpreter Now Being Criminally Investigated, Per Report
The IRS is investigating Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, who was fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers amid accusations of theft to pay off an allegedly illegal bookmaker.
The new revelations reported by the Associated Press could be just the tip of a legal iceberg.
Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office, according to the report.
The AP was able to confirm through Bowyer’s attorney that Ohtani never contacted the bookmaker:
Diane Bass, Bowyer’s attorney, told the AP that Mizuhara was placing bets with Bowyer on international soccer, but not baseball.
“Mr. Bowyer never had any contact with Shohei Ohtani, in-person, on the phone, in any way,” she said Thursday. “The only person he had contact with was Ippei.”
— via the Associated Press
The IRS investigation might be the only active look into possible criminal activity by Mizuhara at the moment. But his legal fallout might just be beginning. According to the Los Angeles Times,
Depending on the circumstances, transferring funds to an illegal bookmaker can raise legal questions about aiding and abetting a criminal enterprise, or engaging in wire fraud or money laundering, legal experts said. But such charges against individual gamblers are rare and usually filed to get those gamblers to flip on bookmakers, the experts said.
That said, stealing millions of dollars from someone, as Ohtani now accuses Mizuhara of doing, is definitely a crime, and not one that federal prosecutors are likely to ignore — especially when the allegations are coming from someone as high-profile as Ohtani, experts said.
— via the Los Angeles Times
Mizuhara had been Ohtani’s friend and interpreter over the last six years with the Angels, straight through the Dodgers’ regular season-opening 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea. After that game, Mizuhara addressed the forthcoming reports about his gambling activities with the team, although the details of his comments to the team have yet to be fully reported.
After Mizuhara’s reveal, Ohtani’s representatives contacted law enforcement authorities and asked them to investigate a “massive theft,” according to ESPN. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara after the late-night revelation.
Ohtani is not currently facing any discipline from Major League Baseball.
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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