New audio sheds light on Ohtani ex-interpreter's gambling scandal - ESPN

Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter initially told a reporter that the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger had agreed to cover his massive gambling debt, according to a newly released audio recording. But the interpreter reversed course less than 24 hours later, admitting that he had lied.

The interview, which federal authorities later said «created an international incident,» is featured in «The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,» a new six-episode series from 30 for 30 Podcasts. Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter who said he and Ohtani were «like brothers,» initially told ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson in a 90-minute interview that Ohtani helped him pay off debts to an illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara detailed how he started betting with the bookie after meeting him at a poker game and described sinking deeper into debt and eventually approaching Ohtani for help.

«I asked him if he could pay my debt off. He had to give it some thought,» Mizuhara said in the first interview.

When asked why Ohtani didn't simply give him the money, Mizuhara said initially that Ohtani didn't trust him not to gamble with it. «He wanted to make sure it's going back to the debts,» he said.

In a six-episode series, 30 for 30 Podcasts examines how Shohei Ohtani's relationship with his longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara unraveled amid a massive sports betting scheme. Listen now.

But less than 24 hours later, the Dodgers fired Mizuhara, and Ohtani's attorneys said the superstar was the victim of «massive theft.» In a second interview, Mizuhara recanted much of what he had told Thompson.

Months later, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to federal charges of bank fraud and filing a false tax return. He admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from the Japanese superstar