Last night, the Dodgers fired the longtime interpreter of Shohei Ohtani after an ESPN investigation revealed that the man had allegedly stolen millions from the MLB star to cover gambling debts. Originally, a spokesperson for Ohtani told ESPN that Ohtani had willingly given Ippei Mizuhara $4.5M to cover the debts. However, after Mizuhara spoke with ESPN himself, Ohtani’s camp issued a statement alleging “massive theft”, although they did not explicitly name Mizuhara. This all came to light due to a federal investigation into an illegal California betting operation. Matthew Bowyer reportedly received a million dollars from Ohtani’s bank account. However, sources close to the betting operation told ESPN that Bowyer only ever interacted with Mizuhara.
Of course, this has led to a wave of conspiracy theories. Some believe that Mizuhara was Ohtani’s intermediary, placing bets on the Dodgers star’s behalf. All bets that Mizuhara made were on sports other than baseball. However, at this time, Ohtani will not face discipline and is not under investigation himself over Mizuhara’s actions. Mizuhara told ESPN that he had asked Ohtani to pay off his debts last year and that he did not know that Bowyer’s outfit was illegal. This remains a developing story.
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Shohei Ohtani Reveals Identity Of His Wife
Elsewhere, Ohtani recently revealed that his wife is former pro basketball player Mamiko Tanaka. Ohtani arrived at the Dodgers’ spring training with the news that he had “recently married someone” in his home country of Japan. However, he did not reveal the identity of his wife until now. Ohtani posted a photo of the pair as they boarded a plane to South Korea for the Dodgers’ season opener.
Tanaka played for Waseeda University and later for the Fujitsu Red Wave in Japan’s pro league. However, she stepped away from professional basketball last year, leading many fans to speculate that she had gotten married or was otherwise focusing on her personal life.
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