Timeline of events in Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal

What we know about the gambling scandal linked to Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. Read more about the story, including still-unanswered questions, on Yahoo Sports.

Video Transcript

- Shohei Ohtani's interpreter/best friend just stole millions of dollars from him to pay off some illegal gambling debts. Or did he?

This is Ippei Mizuhara. He's been Ohtani's interpreter his entire Major League career. He's there for every interview, every press conference. He's in the dugout during every game, helping Ohtani go over strategy.

And it's not just that, they are best friends. They've known each other since 2013. They go to basketball games together. They go to football games together. He was even Ohtani's catcher during the Major League All-Star Home Run Derby.

So on March 20, it was a huge shock when Ippei was suddenly fired for stealing millions of dollars from his boss/best friend. But then things got even weirder. As it turns out just the day before, Ippei had given a lengthy interview where he claimed Ohtani had willingly loaned him the $4 and 1/2 million to help pay off his gambling debts.

Ippei had come clean to his friend about his gambling addiction and Ohtani just wanted to help out. That's why Ohtani's name was on multiple wire transfers to illegal bookie Matthew Boyer, who's currently under federal investigation. So then apparently this whole interview was corroborated by an Ohtani spokesman and the next day the two are seen together in the dugout during a Dodgers game, business as usual.

However, soon after the game, Ohtani's lawyers disavow Ippei's statement that Ohtani had willingly transferred him the money and accused Ippei of theft. Ippei then gets fired. Very strange timing.

And now, it's not illegal for MLB players to gamble on other sports, but it is illegal to gamble in California. And Ippei was using a bookie and making illegal bets. So if Ohtani did knowingly wire the money for gambling debts, even if it was to help out a struggling friend, it would be against the law and against Major League Baseball rules. Currently, the MLB is investigating and Ohtani has doubled down that he knew nothing about the gambling and Ippei had stolen the money.