Representatives of Dodgers celebrity Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday accused his interpreter of participating in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to put bets with an allegedly unlawful bookmaker who’s the goal of a federal investigation.

Lawyers for Ohtani made that declare after The Times realized that Ohtani’s identify had surfaced within the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident. Ohtani’s representatives regarded into the actions of the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in response to The Times’ queries, a supply near the matter mentioned. Two sources advised the newspaper that the cash concerned was within the hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.

In a press release, the West Hollywood regulation agency Berk Brettler mentioned, “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.”

Attempts to succeed in Mizuhara have been unsuccessful. It is unclear whether or not he employed an legal professional.

Mizuhara positioned bets with Bowyer, in response to the sources, who requested anonymity to share delicate info.

The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Mizuhara, a staff spokesman mentioned. One of the sources mentioned that Mizuhara was not truthful when requested about The Times’ inquiries. He was nonetheless deciphering for Ohtani on Wednesday in Seoul.

Ohtani, a global sensation who signed a record 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers in December after playing six years with the Angels, couldn’t be reached for remark. He is with the Dodgers in Seoul for a season-opening series in opposition to the San Diego Padres.

Major League Baseball has not been contacted by prosecutors, a spokesman mentioned.

Bowyer has not been charged with against the law, mentioned his legal professional, Irvine-based Diane Bass. Federal brokers raided Bowyer’s San Juan Capistrano residence final 12 months as a part of the investigation.

Bass advised The Times that Bowyer by no means had contact with Ohtani. “Mathew Bowyer never met, spoke with, or texted, or had contact in any way with Shohei Ohtani,” she mentioned.

The U.S. legal professional’s workplace in L.A., which is overseeing the investigation, didn’t reply to requests for remark.

MLB playing coverage prohibits “any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee” from betting on the sport or making unlawful bets on different sports activities. The punishment for playing with an unlawful bookmaker or their agent isn’t laid out in MLB guidelines, however is left as much as “such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct.”

The investigation into Bowyer includes the identical prosecution staff that has focused a multimillion-dollar unlawful sports activities playing scheme anchored in Orange County, in response to The Times’ sources and court docket information. At least a dozen individuals have been charged in that wider probe — together with ex-Dodger Yasiel Puig, who has pleaded not responsible — that centered on a bookmaking operation led by former minor league baseball participant Wayne Nix of Newport Beach, the information present.

A supply advised The Times that Bowyer had bragged to associates in Las Vegas that he had an Ohtani connection. The supply mentioned Bowyer did so for “marketing purposes” in his alleged bookmaking enterprise.

After The Times printed its story, ESPN reported that an unnamed Ohtani spokesman advised the sports activities outlet earlier that the ballplayer was masking Mizuhara’s playing money owed with Bowyer. According to ESPN, the spokesman then made Mizuhara out there to offer that model of occasions in an interview however later disavowed the account.

Mizuhara was born in Japan and grew up in Southern California. He graduated from Diamond Bar High School in 2003, the place he performed on the soccer staff.

Mizuhara first crossed paths with Ohtani whereas working as an English-language interpreter for American gamers on the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani’s Japanese team within the Nippon Professional Baseball league.

When Ohtani signed with the Angels in late 2017, Mizuhara turned his private interpreter. Mizuhara adopted Ohtani to the Dodgers in the course of the offseason.

Mizuhara has been a relentless companion of the extraordinarily non-public Ohtani all through the participant’s MLB profession. The two usually drive to the ballpark collectively. Mizuhara carried out grocery runs when Ohtani was injured. They are not often seen aside round staff services. Their wives even appeared to have struck up a relationship not too long ago, spending time collectively in the course of the team’s current trip to South Korea.

In current years, Ohtani has become the face of Major League Baseball and one of the celebrated athletes on the earth. Before he signed with the Dodgers, Ohtani was the most sought-after free agent in baseball historical past, and his gargantuan contract is equally unprecedented.

Bowyer has appeared in quite a few court docket filings over time. That features a $1.75-million judgment in opposition to him for defaulting on a line of credit score — a “marker,” in playing parlance — issued to him by Foxwoods Resort Casino, a tribal playing corridor in Connecticut. A tribal court docket imposed the judgment in April 2019; an legal professional for the on line casino filed an utility to enter the judgment in Orange County Superior Court in May 2023. The on line casino’s legal professional mentioned the judgment has not been glad.

The Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas alleged in a lawsuit filed in July 2011 that Bowyer bounced a $250,000 test to the institution. The case was dismissed six months later.

Times workers writers Dylan Hernández and Jack Harris contributed to this report.