{"id":843298,"date":"2025-04-24T16:13:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T21:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/ohtanis-former-interpreters-agent-makes-surprising-statement-about-mlb-player\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T16:13:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T21:13:18","slug":"ohtanis-former-interpreters-agent-makes-surprising-statement-about-mlb-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/ohtanis-former-interpreters-agent-makes-surprising-statement-about-mlb-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohtani\u2019s former interpreter\u2019s agent makes surprising statement about MLB player"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The convicted bookie who took roughly $300 million in wagers from Shohei Ohtani\u2019s interpreter is admittedly in the dark about the Los Angeles Dodgers star\u2019s involvement in the scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither federal investigators nor Major League Baseball found any evidence that Ohtani placed any wagers. For that matter, convicted interpreter Ippei Mizuhara never bet on baseball, thereby giving the feds and MLB even less cause to suspect Ohtani of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud after being caught stealing nearly $17 million from a bank account belonging to Ohtani during the two-way star\u2019s time with the Los Angeles Angels. And for what it\u2019s worth, Ohtani has denied any involvement in the illegal gambling operation, while his attorneys have described him as the \u2018victim of a massive theft.\u2019<\/p>\n

But to Matthew Bowyer, the former bookmaker who faces up to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty in the case, Ohtani\u2019s involvement remains a bit of a mystery.<\/p>\n

\u2018I know the whole world wants to know,\u2019 Bowyer told USA Today<\/a>, \u2018but to this day, I truly don\u2019t know. They are the only two people in the world who really know the truth, Shohei and Ippei.<\/p>\n

\u2018I truly believe that Shohei doesn\u2019t gamble, but I think he knew some area of demise with Ippei, just maybe not to that extent.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

Shohei Ohtani (left) was the victim of Mizuhara\u2019s fraud, according to Major League Baseball\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Bowyer, left, a Southern California bookmaker, arrives with his attorney, Diane Bass in August<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bowyer is far from certain. He used very cautious language when speaking to USA Today, while simultaneously wondering how Ohtani could have been ignorant as $17 million disappeared from his bank account.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s definitely possible Ohtani didn\u2019t know anything, but plausible is a different answer,\u2019 Bowyer said. \u2018I gambled bigger than most. I hid my emotions better than most. But you can only hide so much when you\u2019re in serious turmoil. And clearly, he was in serious turmoil.<\/p>\n

\u2018If this is true that Ippei was the guy, and gambling all by himself the whole time, I don\u2019t know how you could hide that from your best friend, someone you were with almost 24 hours a day? They were inseparable.<\/p>\n

\u2018And if you really could hide that from his best friend for so long \u2013 then how could Shohei Ohtani not see $17 million gone from his account?\u2019<\/p>\n

DailyMail.com has reached out to Ohtani\u2019s agent and his attorneys for comment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Ippei Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in a California prison over fraud charges\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in a California prison after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud.<\/p>\n

Although Mizuhara moved from the Angels to the Dodgers when Ohtani signed his record $700 million free-agent deal before the 2024 season, he was quickly fired in early 2024 as his deception was revealed.<\/p>\n

Federal investigators believe Mizuhara won $142 million across 19,000 wagers between September of 2021 and January of 2024. However, those winnings were deposited into his own account, while Mizuhara used Ohtani\u2019s to cover his losses, which totaled around $183 million \u2013 a difference of $41 million.<\/p>\n

Mizuhara worked with several bookmakers and actually impersonated Ohtani in calls to Dodgers star\u2019s bank, as revealed by the federal probe.<\/p>\n

Investigators did not find any evidence Mizuhara wagered on baseball, nor could they prove that Ohtani was even aware of the theft, much less the gambling.<\/p>\n

Bowyer never directly asked Mizuhara if he was actually placing the bets for Ohtani, largely because he didn\u2019t want to know the answer.<\/p>\n

\u2018I never had a discussion with Ippei directly on who\u2019s making the bets,\u2019 Bowyer told USA Today. \u2018People ask me all of the time, \u201dWhy wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d I say, \u201dWhy would I?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not my business to pry into their business. How are they getting the money? Who\u2019s betting for who? There comes a point where you don\u2019t want the answer, and I was afraid of the truth.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

Ippei Mizuhara is facing almost five years in prison for stealing close to $17m from Ohtani<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, Bowyer gave a different impression in February, when he told the New York Post<\/a>\u00a0he could tell that the translator was going rogue.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was very obvious after some time he was stealing money and not asking Ohtani for permission,\u2019 Bowyer told The Post, adding that Mizuhara wired him $500,000 every two weeks at one point.<\/p>\n

\u2018He never acted as if the dollar amounts impacted him for one second. He was so polite and so respectful,\u2019 Bowyer said.<\/p>\n

At one point Bowyer did ask Mizuhara about his mounting losses.<\/p>\n

\u2018I asked him if he was OK,\u2019 Bowyer said. \u2018He said, \u201dI\u2019m just terrible at this.\u201d I would try to control him a little bit.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I truly believe he had a massive gambling addiction problem.\u2019<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball came to the same conclusion as Bowyer, saying Ohtani is \u2018a victim of fraud\u2019 before closing the matter.<\/p>\n

Despite Mizuhara\u2019s problem, Bowyer admits he had trouble cutting him off because the bookmaking operation was so successful.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was driving my Rolls [Royce] and Lamborghini,\u2019 Bowyer said, while admitting to his own gambling problems.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now, I feel guilty because I feel I was part of it,\u2019 Bowyer told the Post.<\/p>\n

\n

Pete Rose went from managing his hometown Reds in 1989 to a lifetime ban from baseball\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bowyer also placed bets for the late Pete Rose, albeit long after the 1989 scandal that resulted in his permanent ban from baseball.<\/p>\n

Rose admitted to gambling on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team, although he insisted he never bet on his hometown club to lose. Critics have insisted that point is irrelevant because Rose\u2019s gambling undermined fans\u2019 trust in the outcome of games.<\/p>\n

But Rose\u2019s gambling problem didn\u2019t end with his lifetime ban from baseball. Two decades before his death last year, baseball\u2019s all-time hit king was averaging $1,000 wagers per game with Bowyer.<\/p>\n

Ultimately Bowyer was forced to cut Rose off due to his worsening habit.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rose just loved the action,\u2019 Bowyer said. \u2018He was absolutely compulsive. No question.<\/p>\n

\u2018I wasn\u2019t an angel but I wanted to keep my customer from blowing his brains out,\u2019 Bowyer added.<\/p>\n

These days Bowyer is banned from casinos and currently works for an AstroTurf company, according to the Post.<\/p>\n

He is currently in the process of self-publishing a memoir that will be released sometime after his sentencing on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

NewsFinale Journal
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The convicted bookie who took roughly $300 million in wagers from Shohei Ohtani\u2019s interpreter is admittedly in the dark about the Los Angeles Dodgers star\u2019s involvement in the scandal.\u00a0 Neither federal investigators nor Major League Baseball found any evidence that Ohtani placed any wagers. For that matter, convicted interpreter Ippei Mizuhara never bet on baseball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":843299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,65339],"tags":[6221,65335],"class_list":{"0":"post-843298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-former","8":"category-ohtanis","9":"tag-former","10":"tag-ohtanis"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}