The mysterious life -- and questionable claims -- of Shohei Ohtani's interpreter
They were one of the best-known duos in baseball. Wherever star pitcher and slugger Shohei Ohtani went — to practice, to the gym, to Japanese restaurants in Orange County — his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was never far behind.
His Beatles-like haircut, self-deprecating attitude and rapport with the new face of baseball made Mizuhara, a 39-year-old from Southern California, a celebrity in his own right. But over the last week, the world learned how little was truly known about Ohtani’s former right-hand man, who was fired by the Dodgers after being accused of stealing more than $4.5 million to cover debts with an illegal Orange County bookmaking operation.
Now that Mizuhara’s life is under a microscope, key aspects of his biography have proved difficult to confirm; others are outright false. His whereabouts for nearly a decade after graduating from high school in L.A. County are still largely a mystery. He apparently lied about the college he attended and overstated the nature of a previous job with Major League Baseball, in addition to accusations that he misled Ohtani for months — perhaps even years — about a gambling addiction.
The Times visited the area where Mizuhara lived during his teenage years, spoke with childhood friends and acquaintances and sifted through dozens of pages of records. The portrait that emerged is of a man who spent years searching for a career that would play to his strengths, including fluency in Japanese and English — and, with little scrutiny, landed that role with the right man at the right time.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-28/ippei-mizuhara-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-mystery-gambling-scandal
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