Disgraced former NBA ref Tim Donaghy: Shohei Ohtani 'absolutely' knew about interpreter's gambling addiction

Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy talks Shohei Ohtani's gambling scandal on OutKick's "Hot Mic."

As Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, is dealing with the legal matters of his gambling scandal, many still question how much the two-way baseball player knew about it before everything blew up in the public eye. 

Before the 2024 regular season began, Ohtani held a press conference, during which no media was allowed to ask questions and he said he has "never" bet on sports and Mizuhara’s claim that Ohtani was voluntarily paying off his massive gambling debt was a "complete lie."

However, disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who went to prison after admitting he bet on games he officiated in many seasons in the early 2000s, isn’t buying that Ohtani had no clue about Mizuhara’s gambling addiction. 

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Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers speaks to the media at Dodger Stadium on December 14, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.  (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Donaghy made an appearance on OutKick’s "Hot Mic," when he was asked if there’s any way Ohtani didn’t know. 

"Heck no," he responded. "I think Major League Baseball was smart to sweep this under the rug as quickly as possible. You look at that guy and what he’s done for baseball globally and the fans he’s attracted around the world, the last thing they want is for him to be somebody who’s involved in betting on his own games and maybe doing things that he wasn’t supposed to do. 

"I think they were very smart to get that under the rug as quickly as possible and say that he had nothing to do with it, and basically have this other guy take the fall for everything."

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