Shohei Ohtani’s Ex-Interpreter ‘Loved’ Dodgers Before Deception Enabled Scandal

Ippei Mizuhara leaves the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse successful Santa Ana, California, connected February 6, 2025. The erstwhile expert to Shohei Ohtani, who admitted stealing almost $17 cardinal from the Japanese shot prima to salary disconnected forbidden gambling debts, was sentenced to 57 months successful situation connected February 6. Mizuhara was besides ordered to salary restitution of much than $18.1 cardinal successful his sentencing successful national court. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

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More than 2 years aft news collapsed that a Los Angeles Dodgers expert had mislaid a important magnitude of superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani’s money by sports betting pinch an forbidden bookmaker, caller specifications astir the enigmatic Ippei Mizuhara person travel to light.

In a six-part podcast released this week, ESPN’s Thisa Thompson narrates her agelong speech pinch Mizuhara earlier he recanted his admissions successful a stunning reversal.

While the ineligible lawsuit centered connected millions of dollars stolen from Ohtani's accounts, Mizuhara's first confession specifications his position and immoderate notable, later debunked, claims.

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Among the specifications that person emerged from ESPN's reporting was that Mizuhara favored the Dodgers arsenic a instrumentality while increasing up.

“Mizuhara's puerility friends remembered what the early expert was for illustration successful precocious school,” ESPN reported. “One recalled that Mizuhara loved the Dodgers because of Hideo Nomo but switched his allegiance to the Seattle Mariners erstwhile Ichiro Suzuki came to MLB.”

That shot fandom makes the irony of his eventual domiciled pinch the Dodgers moreover much striking. And it recalls Mizuhara’s travel to go a high-profile expert for the top ever Japanese shot player.

As galore reports confirmed soon aft Mizuhara took backmost his first confession, he seems to person lied astir galore aspects of his curriculum vitae successful his travel to construe for Ohtani first pinch the Los Angeles Angels and past pinch the Dodgers.

“Our assemblage records do not show a student by the sanction of Ippei Mizuhara having attended UC Riverside,” a schoolhouse spokesman told The Athletic’s Sam Blum.

Mizuhara besides initially told Thompson that he and Ohtani were person than brothers and that he was embarrassed to inquire the superstar subordinate for financial help, which he ne'er really did.

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Whatever Mizuhara did to unafraid his position arsenic Ohtani’s interpreter, he surely seems to person taken advantage of it.

In explaining why he said retired conscionable earlier Mizuhara’s confession went unrecorded successful 2024, Ohtani revealed that he was wholly unaware of the gambling indebtedness aliases the confession’s specifications because Mizuhara was capable to mislead him via translator and entree his slope accounts without his knowledge.

Mizuhara evidently became 1 of Ohtani's closest day-to-day confidants and, fixed his willingness to crook the truth earlier successful his profession and his liking successful Japanese Dodgers stars, it now appears he mightiness person targeted Ohtani specifically.