Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani's interpreter Ippei Mizuhara over gambling claims

On 20 March 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime interpreter and close aide of Japanese star Shohei Ohtani. The dismissal came during the team's season-opening series in South Korea, after media reports raised questions about large transfers from Ohtani's bank account to an illegal bookmaking operation.

Initially, Mizuhara told a reporter that Ohtani had covered his gambling debts. Ohtani's lawyers then described the transfers as theft and said the player had been the victim of a massive fraud. Ohtani said he had never bet on sports or knowingly paid a bookmaker.

The case drew attention from federal prosecutors in the United States. Mizuhara later pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return, and he was sentenced in 2025 to prison and ordered to pay restitution. Major League Baseball also opened its own investigation. The scandal mattered because it raised questions about the trust placed in a player's inner circle, and it later shaped the coverage of Mizuhara's sentence and release date.