Shohei Ohtani‘s former interpreter initially told a reporter that the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger had agreed to cover his massive gambling debt, according to a newly released audio recording. But the interpreter reversed course less than 24 hours later, admitting that he had lied.
The interview, which federal authorities later said “created an international incident,” is featured in “The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,” a new six-episode series from 30 for 30 Podcasts. Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter who said he and Ohtani were “like brothers,” initially told ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson in a 90-minute interview that Ohtani helped him pay off debts to an illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara detailed how he started betting with the bookie after meeting him at a poker game and described sinking deeper into debt and eventually approaching Ohtani for help.
“I asked him if he could pay my debt off. He had to give it some thought,” Mizuhara said in the first interview.
When asked why Ohtani didn’t simply give him the money, Mizuhara said initially that Ohtani didn’t trust him not to gamble with it. “He wanted to make sure it’s going back to the debts,” he said.
But less than 24 hours later, the Dodgers fired Mizuhara, and Ohtani’s attorneys said the superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” In a second interview, Mizuhara recanted much of what he had told Thompson.
Months later, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank fraud and filing a false tax return. He admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from the Japanese superstar and is serving a 57-month prison sentence.
At Mizuhara’s sentencing hearing in February 2025, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell pointed to the ESPN interview as the reason some were reluctant to accept federal authorities’ findings in the case.
“No matter how many times the government stands up and tells the world that Mr. Ohtani is a victim and that there is no evidence that he was ever involved in the gambling, people still refuse to believe it,” Mitchell said.
In the podcast series, ESPN revisits the gambling scandal that ensnared Mizuhara. Among other new details in the podcast:
• Mizuhara’s childhood friends remembered what the future interpreter was like in high school. One recalled that Mizuhara loved the Dodgers because of Hideo Nomo but switched his allegiance to the Seattle Mariners when Ichiro Suzuki came to MLB.
• Mizuhara’s bookie recalled the first time he saw a wire transfer with Ohtani’s name come in to his operation. “That was the holy s— moment,” he said.
• A federal agent who investigated the case described texts between Ohtani and Mizuhara as “vanilla.” He said he never saw any mention of betting between the two.
