Major League Baseball has commenced a probe into allegations of theft and illegal gambling involving Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star player Shohei Ohtani.
Since then, ‘Shotime’ signed for the Dodgers in a $700 million, 10-year deal, in December last year. He made his debut for the Dodgers in the recent victory against the San Diego Padres in South Korea, as part of MLB’s Seoul Series, one of the four international stops the league is embarking on throughout the season.
“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei (Mizuhara) from the news media,” said a statement from the league commissioner’s office on Friday.
“Earlier today, our Department of Investigations began their formal process investigating the matter.”
Claims of theft from Shohei Ohtani’s representatives
Despite initial claims from Mizuhara that the highly popular baseball icon had assisted him to clear debts racked up from gambling activity, lawyers for the Dodgers man have briefed on a “massive theft”.
“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,” read the statement from Berk Brettler LLP on Wednesday.
