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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Oliver Connolly

The Ohtani interpreter scandal reveals the grubby underbelly of sports betting

Shohei Ohtani, right, and his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, were in Seoul for the start of the MLB season
Shohei Ohtani, right, and his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, were in Seoul for the start of the MLB season. Photograph: Lee Jin-man/AP

This is Major League Baseball’s worst nightmare. The face of the league, its one, true international star, who this past offseason joined one of its biggest teams on a $700m contract, is associated with allegations around an illegal sports betting operation.

The story so far: the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, the team’s two-way phenom, on Wednesday after an investigation revealed $4.5m in wire transfers sent from Ohtani’s bank account to a California betting organization that is now under federal investigation.

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