Ippei claimed to be a graduate of the Univerisity of California, but the school told NBC Los Angeles this month that it has no record of a student by that name.
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Fall guy or liar and degenerate gambler?
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That’s the question the sports world is asking about Ippei Mizuhara, the now-former translator for baseball star Shohei Ohtani.
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Mizuhara is accused of racking up massive gambling debts with illegal bookmakers in California, where sports betting is not sanctioned. He is accused of stealing at least $4.5 million to send via wire transfers to cover his debts.
How a translator making less than $100,000 per year in salary was able to bet more than $4 million on credit is one of of the mysteries in a story that has consumed baseball on the eve of the 2024 season. Another is how and why the story has seemed to change in recent days.
On Monday, Ohtani laid the entire sordid ordeal at the feet of his former translator and friend.
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“Ippei told to the media and to the representatives that I, on behalf of a friend, paid off debt,” Ohtani said through a new interpreter on Monday, in his first public statements about the scandal. “Upon further questioning, it was revealed that it was actually in fact Ippei who … was in debt and told my representatives that I was paying off those debts.
“All of this has been a complete lie,” Ohtani said.
Mizuhara, known as Ippei, was hired by the Los Angeles Angels in 2017 as personal translator for Ohtani, the two-way star who had been signed from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. It was the Fighters who first hired Ippei in 2013 to translate for the Japanese team for its American players. Ohtani was a rookie on the Fighters in 2013 and that’s where he first met Ippei.
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It had been previously reported that Ippei had translated for Hideki Okajima and the Boston Red Sox for five years from 2007-2011. Earlier this month the Red Sox stated that “Mizuhara was never employed by the Boston Red Sox in any capacity.”
That’s not the only inconsistency with Ippei’s backstory.
The 39-year-old was born in Japan but moved to Los Angeles in 1991 with his family, where he attended Diamond Bar High School. Ippei claimed to be a graduate of the Univerisity of California, but the school told NBC Los Angeles this month that it has no record of a student by that name.
Ippei grew close to Ohtani on and off the field, acting as his catcher in the 2021 Home Run Derby, when Ohtani became the first Japanese player to compete in the event. The pair also became friends off the field, with Ippei helping Ohtani with his transition to American culture and lifestyle.
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A 2021 Japanese story on Nippon.com translated to English documents long video game sessions between the pair, as well as frequent meals together around Anaheim at a Japanese-style barbecue restaurant, and even a trip to Universal Studios theme park. Mizuhara got married 2018, but told Nippon.com that he still spends more time with Ohtani than with his family.
“We’re kind of like friends,” the article quotes Mizuhara as saying. “But more like partners.”
That was then, this is now.
“I am very sad and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this,” Ohtani said. “I never bet on baseball or any sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf. … I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700-million deal with the L.A. Dodgers during the offseason.
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