Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani (right) wired $4.5 million to a bookie to pay off gambling debts for his interpreter (left).
The initial story given by Ohtani’s camp is that Ohtani paid $4.5 million for his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling debts.
Then the story changed. They now claim Mizuhara stole the money from Ohtani.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara on Wednesday.
“Ohtani’s camp made a real calculated mistake changing the original story,” sports radio host Craig Carton told The New York Post.
“At first, it was a friend with a gambling problem and Ohtani bailed him out,” Carton said. “When they went back on that and said the money was stolen, they opened up Pandora’s box…”
The feds became involved when Ohtani’s camp claimed the interpreter embezzled money from the baseball star.
“Now, you make the friend the focus of a criminal investigation,” Carton said. “Now, the allegation is fraud, theft and embezzlement. The more people start digging into that, the more it will come out.”
He continued:
“The big problem is when the feds are done investigating this, if there’s a single bet on a baseball game, there’s big problems.”
Ohtani’s spokespeople deny that he illegally gambled on sports. Neither Ohtani nor Mizuhara have been charged with any crimes.
Ohtani signed a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers during the off season. It is the single largest contract in sports history.
Ohtani deferred $680 million until the end of his 10-year contract. Instead of receiving $70 million a year, he is paid only $2 million a year until the final year of his contract. That’s when he will receive a lump sum of $680 million.
Sports gambling is illegal in California. The Dodgers insist Ohtani is not under investigation for sports gambling.
“Ohtani is not currently facing discipline, according to an MLB official. Nor is he believed to be under active investigation by the league,” The Athletic‘s Fabian Ardaya reported Thursday.
NBA legend Michael Jordan and former baseball great Pete Rose are two of the biggest names linked to sports gambling scandals.
The Ohtani story is shaping up to be a much larger gambling scandal.
