Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter who stole money from the account of Major League Baseball (MLB) superstar Shohei Ohtani (30, LA Dodgers) to pay off illegal gambling debts, is negotiating a plea agreement to lower his sentence in exchange for pleading guilty.
On the 11th (Korean time), the New York Times cited a source and reported, “About three weeks have passed since the suspicions of illegal gambling and theft against interpreter Otani arose, and the investigation has rapidly reached a conclusion.”
Currently, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice's California Central District Attorney's Office are investigating the case. The MLB Secretariat is also conducting a separate investigation.
Mizuhara was fired after it became public knowledge that he had sent money from Otani's account to a gambler to repay a debt he owed while illegally gambling. This fact became known through media reports on the 21st of last month, when the MLB Seoul Series was in progress, and the Dodgers immediately fired Mizuhara.
Initially, Mizuhara revealed that Otani personally paid off his gambling debt when the American sports media outlet ESPN was covering the incident before it became known to the media. But after he was fired, Ohtani changed his story and said he had no idea about his gambling debts.
Because of this, suspicions were raised that Otani was involved in the incident. If Otani had given the money even though he knew it was a gambling debt, he could have been subject to punishment.
The controversy grew further as there was speculation that Ohtani may have gambled illegally on baseball. The MLB Secretariat imposes a one-year suspension on players who gamble on baseball, whether illegally or legally. According to a New York Times report, it seems unlikely that Ohtani lent the money knowingly. The media said, “Prosecutors investigating the case discovered evidence that Mizuhara stole more money from Otani’s account than the $4.5 million (approximately KRW 6.1 billion) known as gambling debt. “We also obtained evidence that Mizuhara was able to change account settings to prevent Otani from receiving notifications about transactions between accounts.” As the controversy continued, Otani held a press conference on the 26th of last month, three days before the opening match on the U.S. mainland, and said, “Mizuhara stole money from my account and lied. He said he was saddened and shocked by the wrongdoing of someone he trusted, and maintained his innocence, saying, “I have never gambled on sports or given money to a gambler.” Otani, who only read a statement without answering questions at the time, did not elaborate on how Mizuhara was able to access his account. If it is revealed that everything is Mizuhara's doing and that Otani is not involved, Otani will be cleared of the charges and will be able to focus more on the game. 토토
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