Japanese interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been dismissed by the Los Angeles Dodgers following accusations of embezzling money from baseball star Shohei Ohtani to cover illicit gambling debts. Mizuhara, 39, was a well-known figure among baseball enthusiasts, having served as Ohtani's interpreter for media interactions since Ohtani's move to the United States in 2017.
Mizuhara, who was born in Japan and relocated to the Los Angeles area in 1991, attended Diamond Bar High School and graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2007. His career as an interpreter began with the Boston Red Sox, where he worked with Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. He later returned to Japan to assist English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, where he first crossed paths with Ohtani in 2013.
