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A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesman for Ohtani, referred to the player’s detailed explanation to the media two weeks ago, when Ohtani said Mizuhara had stolen from him and promised to fully cooperate with Major League Baseball and federal investigations.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sport, nor did I ever ask anyone to do so on my behalf,” Ohtani said. “And I have never gone to a sportsbook to bet on sports. Until a couple of days ago I didn’t know this was happening.”
Allegations about the theft arose when the Dodgers were in Seoul to open the season with games against the San Diego Padres. Interest in the team has been intense since signing Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract in December. But as he and his new teammates prepared for their first games, reporters began asking about suspicious wire transfers from Ohtani’s account that had surfaced in a federal investigation of an alleged betting house. Instead of personally informing Ohtani, the superstar’s agent and Mizuhara attempted to manage the crisis themselves.
Mizuhara, communicating with the agent, Nez Balelo, offered different versions of what happened. First, Mizuhara said that Ohtani had paid off the debts of an unnamed teammate; then he said that he himself had run up debts with the bookie and that Ohtani had bailed him out. The changing stories alarmed Major League Baseball executives, who worried that Ohtani could be tarnished by a connection to the game.
Once Dodgers and Major League executives learned of the wire transfers, but with Ohtani still in the dark, the Dodgers asked Mizuhara to address the team in the clubhouse after the first game in Seoul. He told the team that he had a gambling addiction and that he was in deep debt, and that Ohtani, his close friend for years, had paid off the debts.
At that point, Ohtani, who does not speak English fluently but can understand the gist of some conversations, became suspicious. After Mizuhara’s speech in the clubhouse, Ohtani told reporters, he confronted Mizuhara at the team hotel. It was then, Ohtani said, that Mizuhara told her that she had stolen the money from her account. The Dodgers quickly fired him.
