Posted on 03/22/2024 6:09:41 AM PDT by V_TWIN
The Los Angeles Dodgers interpreter for Shohei Ohtani was fired Wednesday afternoon after questions surrounding at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from Ohtani's bank account to a bookmaking operation set off a series of events.
Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime friend and interpreter for Ohtani, incurred the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation, multiple sources told ESPN. How he came to lose his job started with reporters asking questions about the wire transfers.
Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement.
"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," read the statement from Berk Brettler LLP.
The spokesman declined to answer any further questions, and the statement did not specify whom they believe perpetrated the alleged theft.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
The little b@$t@rd bet on...Japanese soccer?!
MLB will work with Ohtani to be sure he remains clean of any smidgen of gambling.
Jail and then Deport
Ohtani is a professional making lots of money in an English -speaking country. Maybe he should spend some time and money to learn English.
Pete Rose was banned forever. His playing days were over and he was a manager-those are a dime a dozen.
This could require a lifetime ban. Nobody suggests it.
“Maybe he should spend some time and money to learn English”
I totally get your point, but if you think about it, we have athletes born and raised right here in this country that hold a four year college degree that struggle to speak proper English.
Having said that, Teddy Roosevelt warned a long time ago that if immigrants fail to assimilate it won’t work.......they aren’t, and it’s not.
The degenerate gambling addicted will bet on anything.
The Jaguars NFL organization recently discovered an employee had imbezzeled over 22 MILLION dollars and spent most of it on gambling.
It’s an addiction, much like any other.
Or, Rose gets in like he deserved to.
Rose? I say phuck him.
he speaks english..
It's tricky to do interviews in your second language. He can speak English informally. But he doesn't treat our media. It makes sense.
*trust
The two most important points IMO will be, did he bet on baseball & did he lie about it?
MLB will work with Ohtani to be sure he remains clean of any smidgen of gambling.
It's quite likely that the interpreter is just a fall guy.
--Did the baseball star gamble heavily
--was found out
--so the Japanese underling takes the blame?
--so MLB doesn't lose their new billionaire "star"?
That should be “millionaire”
I don't know about your local sports radio station, ours...half their revenue (commercial time) comes from gambling interests, same goes for local news(injury lawyers/gambling interests)
I have yet to come across any evidence to implicate Ohtani himself, but I'm highly skeptical that this interpreter is a lone actor in this gambling issue. I wouldnt be surprised if this whole story is quietly filed away out of public viewing just to protect MLB's enormous investment with Ohtani. You can bet Pete Rose is watching.
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