Shohei Ohtani's interpreter accused of massive theft

March 20, 2024 4:55 PM

Shohei Ohtani, singular baseball talent and recent recipient of the largest contract in sport history, has always been close with his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. On Wednesday Ohtani's lawyers have accused Mizuhara of a massive theft to pay off gambling debts. The day before Mizuhara and Ohtani's camp had a different story: Ohtani knew about the gambling debts and had agreed to pay them off. Was Ohtani just covering for a friend, or was he taken advantage of? Did he knowingly pay off a bookie despite MLB rules against such interactions?
posted by thecjm (44 comments total)

The story broke because instead of just giving $4.5 million to Mizuhara, Ohtani paid the bookie directly. And with the bookie under federal investigation, those payments from Ohtani's account have been seen by the press.
posted by thecjm at 5:07 PM on March 20

This is incredible.
posted by synecdoche at 5:57 PM on March 20 [4 favorites]

Even if Ohtani were to be cleared of any wrongdoing, this is still going to be part of the news cycle likely for months it’s even messier because the story changed from one day to the next. ESPN is gonna be milking this for all the hot takes they can get out of it.
posted by azpenguin at 6:25 PM on March 20 [1 favorite]

This would have been a big scandal not too long ago but now professional sport in the US has very limited room to be sanctimonious since the teams themselves are now running books and ESPN runs endless amounts of gambling ads.
posted by srboisvert at 6:56 PM on March 20 [14 favorites]

My Pete Rose spidey sense is driving in overdrive here. Is the interpeter just a fall guy for Ohtani's out of control gambling?
posted by NoMich at 7:47 PM on March 20 [10 favorites]

I don't follow baseball and had never heard of these guys before, but I just read the older linked story about their friendship and it sounded really sweet.

From the newer article about the gambling scandal, it sounds like either Mizuhara stole from Ohtani, or Ohtani covered for him and then threw his friend under the bus when the legal situation got hairy. Either way, super, super sad, and all of it for what? Gambling? (Another thing I know almost nothing about, but it seems so fantastically destructive and pointless, and for some, so incredibly addictive.)
posted by cnidaria at 7:50 PM on March 20

Oh gosh, NoMich, I didn't even think of that -- the even grosser-feeling option that *Ohtani gambled and his interpreter is now taking the fall for it*.
posted by cnidaria at 7:52 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

That does make a ton of sense. Wow.

I thought it was weird with the emphasis on "wasn't gambling on baseball". Why would that matter as his interpreter?

Pretty big debt for an interpreter to be able to run up though. I don't bet so I don't know how much bookies are willing to front. (OK I pretend betted this last NFL season. Was up then stopped paying enough attention, and then chased the wins in the Super Bowl to end up +250! Go Chiefs, (was 9 years old when my hometown Chiefs beat the Vikings)).

It does raise a fair bit of questions though.

The bookies being totally involved in any sports league that exists is also wtf, but...
posted by Windopaene at 8:09 PM on March 20

Turns out his bookie was Bruno Mars. (Yes, I know that story has been discredited, but it is ridiculous enough I am going to pretend it is true)
posted by Literaryhero at 8:34 PM on March 20 [1 favorite]

This is rotten news. Another incredible individual brought to ruin by their own flaws.
posted by interogative mood at 10:03 PM on March 20

I’m a sports fan but, like lots of others, the recent massive push on sports gambling has just been annoying as hell at best and problematic at most. MLB has locked Pete Rose out of the Hall Of Fame - justifiably in my opinion, because you should not bet on your own games, period. But now they have betting windows *inside the damn ballparks.* MLB is trying to have their cake and eat it too. Now one of the biggest stars in the game is caught up in a gambling scandal. I’m not looking forward to the months of noise that’s going to come out of this.

(One thing I do enjoy about sports gambling is bad beats. Those are funny. For example, let’s say team A is favored to win by seven points. There’s 10 seconds left and team A leads team B 24-14. On the last play of the game, the ball carrier from team B sheds a couple of tacklers and races 60 yards to the end zone. Final score 24-20. Team A still won but they didn’t cover the 7 point spread because of one throwaway play at the end of the game. This leads to many pissed off bettors who bet on team A covering - those bettors got hit by a bad beat. It’s funny when it happens.)
posted by azpenguin at 10:07 PM on March 20 [9 favorites]

For every bettor that loses in the last minute, there's another that wins at the last minute, right?
posted by ryanrs at 10:26 PM on March 20 [1 favorite]

Another incredible individual brought to ruin by their own flaws.

In retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have made that speech in hexameter about how his fame and might were without rival, even among the gods.
posted by No-sword at 11:47 PM on March 20 [15 favorites]

For every bettor that loses in the last minute, there's another a company that wins at the last minute, right?

FTFY
posted by chavenet at 12:51 AM on March 21 [2 favorites]

Mizuhara was an employee of the Dodgers. It's not only players who are forbidden from betting on baseball, but also team employees.

Anyway, none of this would have come to light if whoever it was just stuck to DraftKings.
posted by LostInUbe at 1:05 AM on March 21 [4 favorites]

In the age of legal gambling, MLB has two hard and fast rules on the subject: don't bet on baseball and don't ever use illegal bookies. The reason why an interpreter was able to run up a 7-figure debt is because his bookie knew exactly who he was and how much money was in proximity to. And as a team employee that debt could also be leverage to get insider info.
posted by thecjm at 4:56 AM on March 21 [5 favorites]

One other thing to add - wiring money for gambling debts is also a federal crime. Getting caught wiring this money over could not only affect Ohtani's career but also he work visa if he's convicted.
posted by thecjm at 5:08 AM on March 21 [2 favorites]

Dammit. Ohtani has been one of the most exciting talents to come along in a good long while. Given how huge the debt was, I can’t see how there wasn’t a wink-wink, implicit/explicit understanding that this was Ohtani’s money in-play.

Sports betting is a cancer. How the fuck did it suddenly explode all over the place like this? Was there a court decision or something?

I love baseball, but it’s become so hard to watch, not just because of the sportsbook commercials, but so many broadcasts now have regular inning breaks dedicated to two or three guys (or two guys and a gal, because, y’know, gotta get the women hooked) sitting in a studio discussing nothing but the evolving betting lines in the game. It’s insane.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 AM on March 21 [7 favorites]

For every bettor that loses in the last minute, there's another that wins at the last minute, right?

I’m not an expert, but I have to think betting on a team to win but NOT cover the spread isn’t a very popular option?
posted by saturday_morning at 6:35 AM on March 21

Not everybody cares to hear how we feel. To half the world, I’m just helping them make money on DraftKings or whatever … I’m the prop, you know what I mean?

Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton feels like just a ‘prop’ with sports betting’s rise
posted by LostInUbe at 6:42 AM on March 21 [2 favorites]

Sports betting is so normalized now that I just learned it’s illegal in California. Apparently that’s why the bookie was being investigated in the first place.

MLB employees are allowed to bet on non baseball sports but not with illegal bookies.
posted by girlmightlive at 6:44 AM on March 21

Pete Rose is like [that gif where Jason Momoa shakes a camp chair open, sits down grinning]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:46 AM on March 21 [5 favorites]

Sports betting is a cancer. How the fuck did it suddenly explode all over the place like this? Was there a court decision or something?

Yes. It was federally illegal outside of a couple states until SCOTUS got their hands on it and declared the law unconstitutional.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:53 AM on March 21 [3 favorites]

Semi-related baseball news: the Dodogers other big acquisiton got BLOWN UP in his first start, so that whole "The Dodgers 'won' the offseason!" narrative is looking wobbly one whole day into the season.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:05 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Go Giants!
posted by chavenet at 7:18 AM on March 21 [3 favorites]

Semi-related baseball news: the Dodogers other big acquisiton got BLOWN UP in his first start, so that whole "The Dodgers 'won' the offseason!" narrative is looking wobbly one whole day into the season.

I mean, it's barely 1% into the season. Ohtani's fate and the fallout of this scandal has huge ramifications for the Dodgers but I don't think anyone ought to read too much into Yamamoto's performance in one game.
posted by synecdoche at 12:07 PM on March 21

you have to admire the perfect juxtaposition

sports betting eclipses sports, we finally did it

fucking hell of a world we've built, eh
posted by elkevelvet at 12:30 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]

I don't think anyone ought to read too much into Yamamoto's performance in one game

Just let me eat my schadenfreude in peace while I still can.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:39 PM on March 21 [3 favorites]

The latest from Twitter: "According to ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, an LA official said that Ohtani allegedly found out about the missing money during Ippei’s post game talk with the team … team owner Mark Walter said Ohtani paid off Ippei’s debts, and that’s when Shohei allegedly went to another translator to confirm what he just heard"
posted by thecjm at 12:50 PM on March 21

So, because this is a scandal happening in America, it is slowly turning into a culture war wedge issue. Sorry fans of other teams who like things like parity and not losing out on free agent sweepstakes (is gambling allowed in Toronto? Could this have all been avoided if Shotime went Canadian?). But you're going to have to tiptoe around the kind of sports hot-takers who would prefer a Japanese guy not be the face of the MLB and are calling for him to be banned for life ala Rose.
posted by LostInUbe at 2:45 PM on March 21 [2 favorites]

I was initially on Team "Of Course Shohei Gambled and This Guy Is Covering For Him" but I'm becoming open to the idea he got conned.

The first account ("Shohei paid off my gambling debts") did come solely through the con artist translator himself. Shohei, who probably does speak some English after all, apparently picked up the bit where Mizuhara said Shohei paid his gambling debts, checked with another translator and then immediately moved to cut that off.

That... is fairly plausible.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:04 PM on March 21 [4 favorites]

Well, hooooooollllyyyyyy shiiiiiiiiitttttt.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:57 PM on March 22

I dunno man, I'm looking at the box score for that 14 July game and it looks like he lost that bet? If he really had a story he wouldn't just tweet it out, right?
posted by ob1quixote at 5:14 PM on March 22

The tweet I see says July 22. Ohtani got lit up in the 7th.. But there's also no evidence other than one rando tweeting it out.
posted by thecjm at 5:19 PM on March 22

@srboisvert Not only does ESPN run constant gambling ads, they also have their own sports book (ESPN BET)!
posted by Ike_Arumba at 7:26 PM on March 22

Seriously? A guy whose account is mainly being a San Francisco Giants fan?
Gambling in the US is one thing. Gambling in Japan is a whole other thing because it would probably involve organized crime. He is insinuating something way beyond a gambling addiction.
Sidenote: people have been sued and found guilty of sending out defamatory tweets in Japan.
posted by LostInUbe at 7:35 PM on March 22

Baseball: MLB begins investigating scandal involving Ohtani, aide
posted by LostInUbe at 7:56 PM on March 22

FWIW, the guy tweeting that stuff is reportedly former MLB star Tim Lincecum.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:11 AM on March 23

Now the word is, that account is not Lincecum, just a guy who always insisted he was as a bit, I guess? I can't read his whole account, so I don't even know. Twitter has put a tag on it as satirical.

The irony of course is, no one would have believed it on the first place if the blue check system wasn't destroyed. It would have been clear immediately whether it was him or not.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:53 AM on March 23

There was a community note on the tweet then it was gone. I think people voted it down.
Lincecum was known to be a pretty private guy so it would be weird of him to suddenly turn into a prolific tweeter, especially considering that the account also tweets a lot of stuff about Florida State football (Lincecum played college baseball at Washington and split time between there and San Francisco when he was a player) and follows Donald Trump (I don't know anything about Lincecum's politics but these days, who knows?).
posted by LostInUbe at 6:11 AM on March 23

The whole situation is so weird, it feels like anything could be true. Obviously, that's not a great baseline to work from, though.

It's funny actually, because with say, politics or science, I'm truly a diligent skeptic. But with baseball news, so many of the biggest scoops come from ridiculous accounts on Twitter. It throws off my meter.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:51 AM on March 23

I mean, one of the biggest Cub trades of the last decade was broken by Twitter users wetbutt23 and KatyPerrysBootyHole. It's basically chaos out there, y'all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:04 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]

I think before social media exploded, news was being broken - such as it was - on forums and the like but it just took longer to hit the mainstream media because everything was so segmented. Now it's very out in the open and, as was mentioned earlier about what happened to the blue checks on twitter, it is easily gamed.

That one account doesn't even have a blue check but that first tweet has now been viewed 8 million times. It has some details that can be easily verified like Ohtani's hometown and box scores. But gambling on baseball is not as easily done in Japan and in fact, when Ohtani was playing in Japan, there was a big scandal about players betting on games. Players had to attend lectures after that.

And there is still a robust culture of tabloids in Japan that had they gotten a whiff of Ohtani (or Ippei) betting in Japan there's a better than zero chance it would have been printed somewhere.
posted by LostInUbe at 8:39 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]

DirtyOldTown: “FWIW, the guy tweeting that stuff is reportedly former MLB star Tim Lincecum.”

Yeah, I didn't realize that. I thought it was just Some Dude™ saying he heard something from a guy that knows a guy as a way to angle for some drop ship money or whatever. If it really is Big Time Timmy Jim that makes the idea of the poster having a clubhouse connection more plausible.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:32 AM on March 23