MLB has launched an official investigation into claims of theft and illicit gambling involving Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani and his translator, Ippei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara was fired by the team on Wednesday in response to revelations from ESPN and the Los Angeles Times regarding his purported connections to an illegal bookmaker and Ohtani’s representatives asserting that the two-way Japanese sensation had been the victim of a “massive theft.”
Following news of the claims, the MLB Department of Investigations started an official investigation into the situation.
The Major League Baseball (MLB) Department of Investigations was formed in 2008 in response to claims made in the 2007 Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell report on the use of performance-enhancing substances in sports.
The team looked into any drug and labor contract breaches connected to the Biogenesis expansion involving three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez, who was suspended for the 2014 season.
Interpreter’s Betting Sparks MLB Concerns
Trevor Bauer, a pitcher for the Dodgers, was suspended for 194 games in 2022 as a result of the unit’s investigation into charges of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. This occurred more recently.
Ohtani, baseball’s biggest star, is an unprecedented two-way player who has excelled at the plate and on the mound.
He was a two-time AL MVP with the Los Angeles Angels before leaving as a free agent to sign a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December. The Dodgers are set to resume the regular season with their home opener next Thursday.
Mizuhara, Ohtani’s personal interpreter and close friend, told ESPN that his bets were placed on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL, and college football. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering, even legally, on baseball, and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport, while the penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion. Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.
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