PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 20: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on prior to the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on July 20, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Dodgers 10-7. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
In 2024, shortly after he made his professional debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani relayed an urgent message to the press about accusations that he had paid off a sports gambling debt with a book maker.
“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," Ohtani’s lawyers told ESPN as reporter Tisha Thompson prepared to share an initial confession from his long-time interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
While Mizuhara first told Thompson that Ohtani knew about a $4.5 million gambling debt he accrued with an underground bookmaker and helped him pay it off in increments, he later admitted to stealing money from Ohtani’s bank account without his knowledge.
Federal investigators eventually cleared Ohtani of any wrongdoing, but Mizuhara’s first statements about the crime, which were made to Thompson over the phone with a paid Ohtani spokesperson listening in, generated some unresolved intrigue, even though he recanted them shortly afterward.
