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MLB launches investigation into gambling allegations surrounding Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter
Days after lawyers accused Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara of “massive theft” to pay off gambling debts, Major League Baseball has announced that they are launching their own formal investigation into allegations surrounding the Dodgers star player.
“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhari from the news media. Earlier today, our Department of Investigations (DOI) began their formal process investigating the matter,” said the statement from MLB.
The exact circumstances surrounding the course of their investigation remain unclear, though ESPN reports that they will likely request interviews from all of the people involved in the allegations.
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The United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles is also investigating the allegations They have declined to comment on the matter.
Mizuhara, who was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday, was accused of stealing millions of dollars from Ohtani to pay an illegal bookmaker named Matthew Bowyer, who is currently being investigated by federal prosecutors. The news was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.
ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, who interviewed Mizuhara before the news broke, reported that at least $4.5 million was transferred from Ohtani’s personal bank account to the bookmaking operation.
“Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara’s gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail,” Thompson wrote. “However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara’s account and said Ohtani’s lawyers would issue a statement.”
Ohtani has not yet commented on the situation, and was unavailable for interview following the Dodgers most recent game in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday, a 15-11 loss to the San Diego Padres.
Mizuhara has worked as Ohtani’s interpreter since 2017, when he was posted by the Nippon Professional Baseball League’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters to sign with an MLB team. His relationship with the two-way star has been well documented during Ohtani’s tenure with the Angels, with whom he played for six seasons before signing a 10-year, $700 million mega-deal with the Dodgers.
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Barry Enderwick is eating his way through history, one sandwich at a time. Every day from his home in San Jose, California, Enderwick posts a cooking video from a recipe that time forgot. From the 1905 British book “Salads, Sandwiches and Savouries,” Enderwick prepared the New York Sandwich.
The recipe called for 24 oysters, minced and mixed with mayonnaise, seasoned with lemon juice and pepper, and spread over buttered day-old French bread.
Rescuing recipes from the dustbin of history doesn’t always lead to culinary success. Sampling his New York Sandwich, Enderwick decried it as “a textural wasteland. No, thank you.” Into the trash bin it went!
But Enderwick’s efforts have yielded his own cookbook, a collection of some of the strangest – and sometimes unexpectedly delicious – historical recipes you’ve never heard of.
Harvard Common Press
He even has a traveling stage show: “Sandwiches of History Live.”
From the condiments to the sliced bread, this former Netflix executive has become something of a sandwich celebrity. “You can put just about anything in-between two slices of bread,” he said. “And it’s portable! In general, a sandwich is pretty easy fare. And so, they just have universal appeal.”
Though the sandwich gets its name famously from the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, the earliest sandwich Enderwick has eaten dates from 200 B.C.E. China, a seared beef sandwich called Rou Jia Mo.
He declared it delicious. “Between the onions, and all those spices and the soy sauce … oh my God! Oh man, this is so good!”
While Elvis was famous for his peanut butter and banana concoction, Enderwick says there’s another celebrity who should be more famous for his sandwich: Gene Kelly, who he says had “the greatest man sandwich in the world, which was basically mashed potatoes on bread. And it was delicious.”
Whether it’s a peanut and sardine sandwich (from “Blondie’s Cook Book” from 1947), or the parmesian radish sandwich (from 1909’s “The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book”), Enderwick tries to get a taste of who we were – good or gross – one recipe at a time.
RECIPE: A sophisticated club sandwich
Blogger Barry Enderwick, of Sandwiches of History, offers “Sunday Morning” viewers a 1958 recipe for a club sandwich that, he says, shouldn’t work, but actually does, really well!
MORE: “Sunday Morning” 2024 “Food Issue” recipe index
Delicious menu suggestions from top chefs, cookbook authors, food writers, restaurateurs, and the editors of Food & Wine magazine.
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Story produced by Anthony Laudato. Editor: Chad Cardin.