Name: Did Shohei Ohtani help his interpreter, or was he betrayed?
Uploaded: 2024-02-24T02:45:15.000Z
Duration: 2 min 56 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

This morning, mounting questions over Shohei Otani's relationship with his longtime interpreter.

Ippei Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers Wednesday after bombshell reports of his alleged connection to a potentially illegal gambling scheme,

including allegations that baseball's biggest star has been the victim of a massive theft.

The controversy stemming from a report in the LA Times that Otani's name came up during a federal investigation into an alleged illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer in California.

It could bring criminal charges against someone who was in the very limited trusted circle of the biggest player in Major League Baseball.

According to the AP, the IRS has now confirmed that the interpreter and Bowyer are both under criminal investigation.

A person familiar with Otani and Mizuhara interactions telling NBC News more than $4.5 million was sent from Otani's account to an associate of the alleged bookie

But questions remain about what Otani knew about the transfer and when?

ESPN reporting that the player's own spokesman originally told the outlet that Otani transferred the funds and set up a 90-minute interview with Mizuhara where he said the same.

But the next day, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and the interpreter also walked back his story.

Now, what happened during that time? We do not know yet.

The source familiar with their interactions told NBC News that Mizuhara originally told Otani's representatives that the player had agreed to cover his debts.

The interpreter telling Otani's team that Otani had been angry with him but agreed on the condition that Mizuhara would never gamble again.

But later the source says Mizuhara said that story was untrue.

The source now telling NBC Otani found out about the story at this week's Dodgers game in South Korea, where the two were seen joking.

Lawyers for the baseball superstar only saying he was the victim of a massive theft while the alleged bookmaker's attorney saying Otani was not involved.

Mr. Bowyer never met Shohei Otani, never spoke with Shohei Otani. The only person he dealt with was Ippei.

Now, as for what happens next, experts say Major League Baseball could open an internal investigation into the matter.

Mizuhara has not responded to NBC's request for comment.

Neither he nor Otani have been charged with a crime and no betting on baseball has been alleged.

The Dodgers next play on Sunday against the Angels, Ohtani's former team. Guys.

It feels like this is just the beginning of the story.

Yeah, I agree with you. It's a complicated story too.