If he paid back the money knowing it was illegal, will Ohtani be punished?
If Ohtani knew about Mizuhara’s illegal gambling and paid him back, would that be a crime?
The interpreter was clearly guilty of wrongdoing, and the club was quick to “cut their losses” by firing him. But even the “$700 million man” has the potential to spark a firestorm.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball is in trouble. During the World Series, Ohtani was devastated. His “best friend” and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly embezzled money from him and spent about $4.5 million on illegal gambling.
Mizuhara informed the team after the official opening match on the 20th, and the club promptly fired him. Otani is also in the process of cutting ties with Mizuhara. He’s blocked her on social media and is considering suing her.
But there’s a catch. The local media in the U.S. reported that Mizuhara confessed to Otani that he had gotten into a lot of debt from illegal gambling, and that Otani paid him back, telling him not to do it again.
However, the Los Angeles Times reported on Feb. 22 (KST) that Ohtani could be held legally liable if he knew about Mizuhara’s illegal gambling and paid the debt. Sports gambling is illegal in California, where LA is located. Ohtani could have aided and abetted the illegal activity.
The LA Times emphasized that anyone who borrows the words 토토사이트 of a professional instructor and pays the debt knowing it is illegal can be punished under federal law.
That’s why Mizuhara’s sudden change of heart to “Ohtani doesn’t know anything” is likely to have been meant to protect him. As U.S. authorities pressed him to investigate his misconduct, and as the media learned of it and began reporting on it, Mizuhara insisted that Ohtani had done nothing wrong and was only paying him back.
However, when it looked like a damaging scenario was about to unfold, he changed his story, claiming to know nothing. Then, just as the media was going to press, the club announced his dismissal.