The Los Angeles landed Shohei Ohtani ahead of the 2024 season as the Generation talent signed a 10-year, $700 million contract. The December 2023 celebration was for fans, but soon a dark scandal followed Otani’s current form of interpreter Ipei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara stole almost $17 million from Otani to fund his secret, illegal sports gambling venture. He forged his tax returns, committed bank fraud, pretended to be the superstar baseball player he worked for, and sentenced to 57 months in prison.
It was Matthew Bowyer who accepted a bet from Mizuhara via one of the country’s biggest bookmaking schemes. He awaits his sentence for not only his involvement in Otani’s situation, but also for his other illegal activities while performing this sports gambling ring.
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Boweer recently told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that Ohtani didn’t think of what was going on with his interpreter was plausible at best.
“It’s no doubt that Otani might have known nothing, but plausible is another answer,” Boweer said. “I gambled bigger than most. I hid my feelings better than most. But only when you’re in serious confusion, you can hide that much. And obviously, he was feeling serious confusion.”
Athletic Ken Rosenthal writes that Mizuhara acted more as a de facto manager and assistant in accordance with the US government’s complaints. Otani was busy enough with pitching and hit work, so it was not normal for the two to have a closer relationship than the average interpreter and foreign star.
“I really believe shoes are not gambling, but I think he knew the end of territory with Ipey.
From a human point of view, despite Otani’s strict baseball schedule, he could still see the level of stress from the interpreter, but that doesn’t mean that Otani knew what was actually going on behind the curtains.
It’s hard to imagine finding one of your nearest allies stole almost $17 million from you, but Otani not only fought through emotional hardships, but also won his third MVP award, opening a 50-home run, a 50-storey base club.
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Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Usa Today Sports
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