Star two-way player Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers read a statement today in relation to Ippei Mizuhara, his former translator and friend. Mizuhara was fired last week amid his involvement with an illegal sports gambling operation.
Ohtani read the statement in Japanese, which was translated into English by Will Ireton, for a period of about 12 minutes. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic was among those to relay a few days ago that Ireton would be serving as a translator for Ohtani in the wake of Mizuhara’s departure. Ireton served as Kenta Maeda’s translator when he was with the Dodgers and Ireton stayed an employee of the club after Maeda was traded to the Twins in 2020.
Reporting last week highlighted that over $4.5MM had been wired from an account in Ohtani’s name to the gambling ring. Mizuhara said that he racked up that debt by betting on sports other than baseball, then Ohtani wired the money to help him pay it off. Later, Ohtani’s attorneys contradicted the story, saying that Ohtani “had been the victim of a massive theft.” Ohtani’s version of events that he relayed today aligned with the theft story, accusing Mizuhara of using his account to wire the money and then lying about it.
More to come.