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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter fired by Dodgers after allegations
LOS ANGELES | Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers following allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese baseball star.
Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker. The team is in Seoul, South Korea this week as Ohtani makes his Dodgers debut, and Mizuhara was in Los Angeles’ dugout during their season-opening win.
“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,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.
Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.
Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.
The Dodgers said in a statement they were “aware of media reports and are gathering information.
“The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated,” the statement said. “The team has no further comment at this time.”
On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Mizuhara for comment Wednesday.
Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. He attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2007.
After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That’s where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.
After Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.
ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambing debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.
“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”
It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.
The MLB gambling policy, posted in every locker room, prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion.
Ohtani’s stardom has spread worldwide, even as the two-way player has remained largely media-shy. The news of his recent marriage to Mamiko Tanaka shocked fans from Japan to the U.S. While he underwent surgery on his right elbow last September and will not pitch this season, he will be used as a designated hitter and there is a possibility he could play in the field. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI in his first game, the season opener against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.
Cavs coach Bickerstaff says he received threats from gamblers
Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff revealed he received threats from gamblers last season and reported it to the NBA.
While being asked Wednesday night about sports gambling following comments made by Indiana All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who said he sometimes feels like a “prop,” Bickerstaff said gamblers contacted him.
“They got my telephone number and were sending me crazy messages about where I live and my kids and all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said before the Cavs hosted the Miami Heat. “So it is a dangerous game and a fine line that we’re walking for sure.”
Bickerstaff said he told security and that the gambler was located.
“No charges,” Bickerstaff said. “But they found him.”
With sports gambling growing in the U.S., Bickerstaff, who is in his fourth full season with the Cavaliers, said his job has become more challenging.
“It brings added pressure,” he said. “It brings a distraction to the game that can be difficult for players, coaches, referees, everybody that’s involved in it. And I think that we really have to be careful with how close we let it get to the game and the security of the people who are involved in it.
“Because again, it does carry a weight. A lot of times the people who are gambling like this money pays their light bill or pay their rent, and then the emotions that come from that. So I do think we’re walking a very fine line and we have to be extremely careful in protecting everybody who’s involved.”
Because fans can bet on their phones in the arena — the Cavs have a sportsbook inside Rocket Mortage FieldHouse — Bickerstaff said the line between gambling and the game has never been closer.
“There’s no doubt about it that it’s crossed the line,” he said. “The amount of times where I’m standing up there and we may have a 10-point lead and the spread is 11 and people are yelling at me to leave the guys in so that we can cover the spread, it’s ridiculous.
“But again, I understand the business side of it and the nature of the business of it. But I mean, it is something that I believe has gone too far.”
Following a recent game in Cleveland, Minnesota center Rudy Gobert said he felt gambling is “hurting our game.”
Gobert made the comments after making a “money” gesture toward official Scott Foster, implying gambling was influencing the way the game was being called. He was fined $100,000, the maximum that the NBA could give under terms of the collective bargaining agreement that went into place last year.
ACC sues Clemson in North Carolina, day after school filed lawsuit
CHARLOTTE, N.C. | A day after Clemson sued the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC filed a lawsuit against the school in a North Carolina court, saying the school is breaking its agreements with the league by challenging its exit fees and contract that binds members through their media rights.
The ACC’s claim was filed Wednesday in Mecklenburg County, the same court where it preemptively sued Florida State in December, the day before FSU became the first school to try to sue its way out of the conference.
The ACC’s latest suit begins with a quote from Clemson’s president from a 2016 ESPN article about the conference’s extended media rights deal with the network and the amended grant of rights that is now being attacked by the schools.
“The ACC is a great conference, and this increases the national exposure, brings in additional revenue and offers greater opportunity for student athletes. . . . For us and the Florida States and others, it stabilizes the conference long term,” Clemson President James Clements was quoted as saying.
The ACC’s current media rights deal with ESPN runs through 2036 and leaves the conference lagging far behind the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference in annual revenue.
Clemson’s lawsuit — filed in South Carolina — claims the ACC’s $140 million exit fee is “unconscionably high” and “unenforceable.” The school also says the grant of rights only applies if Clemson is part of the conference and that if a school exits the league it retains control of the media rights to its home sporting events.
“In so doing, Clemson breached its agreement to not ‘take any action, or permit any action to be taken by others subject to its control. … that would affect the validity and enforcement’ of the Grant of Rights,” the ACC said in its filing.
Florida State has said in its lawsuit that it would cost $572 million dollars to leave the ACC right now.
Clemson says the exit fee and grant of rights hanging over the school is prohibiting it from exploring other conference options.
The first court hearing in any of these suits is schedule for Friday in North Carolina, when officials from the ACC and Florida State are scheduled to appear in Mecklenburg County.
Clemson and Florida State are trying to free themselves from the ACC because the schools believe the revenue gap between them and schools in the Big Ten and SEC — which they say will soon grow to between $40 million and $50 million in annual distribution — will leave them at a competitive disadvantage.
UFC agrees to $335 million settlement with former fighters
LAS VEGAS | UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings reached a $335 million settlement regarding two antitrust lawsuits brought by former fighters in the organization, according to TKO’s disclosure to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The agreement was reached March 13, and the payments will be paid out over time rather than in a lump sum and will be tax deductible.
The two class-action lawsuits by former UFC fighters were led by Cung Le, filed in 2014, and Kajan Johnson, filed in 2021. Several other fighters also were mentioned in the suits.
They alleged the UFC attempted to act as a monopoly and thus limited the fighters’ ability to maximize their earnings.
One of the lawsuits stated “the UFC has engaged in an illegal scheme to eliminate competition from would-be rival MMA Promoters by systematically preventing them from gaining access to resources critical to successful MMA Promotions, including by imposing extreme restrictions on UFC Fighters’ ability to fight for would-be rivals during and after their tenure with the UFC.”
The terms of the settlement must be submitted to a court for approval.
“We are pleased with the settlement and will disclose more when we file with the Court in 45-60 days,” Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association, led by one of the attorneys, posted on X (formerly Twitter).
A UFC spokesperson released a statement that read, “We are pleased to have reached an agreement to settle all claims asserted in both the Le and Johnson class action lawsuits, bringing litigation to a close and benefiting all parties. The final terms of the settlement will be submitted to the court for approval.”
Andy Murray beats weary Matteo Berrettini to advance at the Miami Open
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. | Andy Murray won another lengthy match with Matteo Berrettini, who appeared weary and leaned on his racket to keep his balance during Murray’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Wednesday at the Miami Open.
Playing his first match on the ATP Tour this season, Berrettini was serving with Murray leading 5-2 in the second set when he seemed to become dizzy, resting his racket on the court to hold himself up. He was visited by a medical attendant, who checked his blood pressure before play continued.
Berrettini left the court after dropping that set but was able to finish the match, which last 2 hours, 49 minutes.
It was a rematch of Murray’s 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (10-6) victory that lasted more than 4 1/2 hours in the first round of the 2023 Australian Open.
“It was obviously a great win for me,” Murray said. “Started off a little bit slow but then I did think I played pretty well across then end of the first set through to the end of the match. Created a lot of opportunities and he was struggling for a little bit end of the second and beginning of the third, and I capitalized on that and got off to a quick start in the third and served it out well at the end.”
Plagued by injuries, Berrettini hadn’t played a match on tour since being forced to retire during his match in the second round of last year’s U.S. Open. The 2021 Wimbledon runner-up returned last week and reached the final of a Challenger tour tournament in Phoenix.
The 36-year-old Murray has won the title twice in Miami and joined Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the only active players with 30 wins at the event. The three-time Grand Slam champion advanced to face No. 29 seed Tomas Etcheverry in the second round.
Elsewhere on the first full day of the tournament, Sloane Stephens beat Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-3 in a matchup of past U.S. Open women’s champions. Naomi Osaka, a two-time U.S. Open champ, played her opening-round match at night.
Also, Donna Vekic outlasted Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; and Americans Danielle Collins and Shelby Rogers advanced with three-set victories.
Men’s winners included Denis Shapovalov, who beat Luciano Darderi 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4; and Martin Damm Jr., who outlasted China’s Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3).
—From AP reports
