Major League Baseball has launched a formal investigation into matters surrounding Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, the league announced Friday.
Sources told ESPN that MLB plans to request interviews with all involved, including Ohtani and Mizuhara, but since Mizuhara no longer works for baseball, there is no way officials can force his cooperation. There is no such thing.
As a member of the MLB Players Association, Ohtani also has the right to refuse cooperation. Otani could also exercise its right to refuse to cooperate based on an ongoing criminal investigation, based on its interpretation of arbitration precedent. MLB has traditionally maintained that such exceptions can be invoked if a player is the subject of an investigation, but Ohtani is believed not to be the case.
“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since learning of the allegations regarding Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhari from the media,” MLB said in a statement. “Early today, our Department of Investigation (DOI) began a formal investigation into this matter.”
The announcement came two days after Mizuhara was released by the Dodgers. Reporters pressed questions about at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from Ohtani's bank account to a bookkeeping business that is under federal investigation.
Over the course of two days, Ohtani's reps announced to his lawyer that Ohtani had been the victim of “grand theft,” pivoting from saying the slugger had paid Mizuhara's gambling debts.
It's unclear whether authorities are investigating the alleged theft. Ohtani's representative said Thursday that he had formally submitted the complaint to law enforcement, but did not say which authority. Sources told ESPN that neither the California Bureau of Investigation nor the FBI were investigating the case.
Spokespeople for the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County and Orange County district attorneys' offices said they were not investigating the matter and said it was likely a federal matter. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California declined comment.