Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, right, and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, attend at a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on March 16, 2024.Lee Jin-man/The Associated Press
This week, reporters from various California outlets began ringing up Shohei Ohtani about his involvement in the federal investigation of a bookmaker. Why had he sent the bookie US$4.5-million in wire transfers?
On Tuesday, a spokesman for baseball’s biggest star presented his friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, for interrogation by ESPN.
Mizuhara told the network that the debts were his. He’d started betting in 2021, not realizing that sports wagering is illegal in California.
He got in over his head. So he went to his boss…
