THE BETRAYAL OF SHOHEI OHTANI Episode 3: Baseball Boy

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In Episode 3 of 'The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,' investigative reporter Tisha Thompson uncovers the shocking truth behind Dodgers star Shohei Otani's fired interpreter, Ipe Mizuhara. After a series of conflicting stories

Key takeaways

• Shohei Otani publicly accused Ipe Mizuhara of stealing millions from his account and lying about paying off gambling debts

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:05) Tisha, good morning. I know it's been a very busy morning for you. Thank you so much for the time. Tisha, how did this start? Well, we had been looking into what you were talking. In the days after our story broke in March 2024, I spent a lot of time retelling what had happened. First, Ipe had told me in great detail about Shohei helping him wire money to an illegal bookie. Then Shohei's people said that story was a lie. Ipe had stolen the money. So I called Ipe. And he took back nearly everything he said in that first interview. He told me he had stolen from Shohei. A developing story in baseball, the Dodgers announced on Wednesday they have fired Shohei Otani's longtime interpreter Ipe Mizuhara. The interpreter is accused of using the ballplayer's money to cover millions of dollars in allegedly illegal bets. ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson is here with us to tell us more about this. Good morning. Good morning. So I want to be but there were still a lot of questions about what exactly had happened. How does your interpreter have access to your bank account? So a lot more questions still to be answered. Most of the answers I had were based on what Ipe and Otani's people had told me, and I still wasn't sure who to believe or what really happened. No one was answering our questions. I tried to reach out to Ipe again, but he never responded. It was a perfect story for sports fans in talk. talk radio, a classic, he said, he said, which version of the story do you believe? What's been strange here is how many versions of the story have come from Otani's camp itself? So initially, Otani's camp said, Otani was kind of generously paying off the debts for his interpreter. Then Otani's lawyers came in. They said, actually, no, he never knew anything about this. Mizuhara had been stealing money from him for years. In those early days after the story broke, what you believed often came down. to whether or not you rooted for Shohei and the Dodgers. Dodgers fans so far are standing by Otani. I 100% don't believe that Otani's involved in the gambling at all. Yeah, I thought he might have not known. He was also like, you know, are you not going to know what's going on? I think that they're all doing it, just the fact that he got caught because of the large numbers. Now, you wonder if there's a level of distrust with baseball fans who are asking, are you for real? And he's the face of baseball, and that's a problem for Major League Baseball right now. The pressure was building for someone to speak out and address the skis. handle. Finally, five days after the story broke, word went out that there would be a news conference. Shohei himself was going to speak. Thanks everybody for coming. Who doesn't see you not filming this right now on your cell phone if that's possible? Dozens and dozens of reporters squeeze into the room at Dodger Stadium. And after showy's done, we will not be taken questions. Before the news conference even starts, the Dodgers'clock. Dodgers announced that Shohei will not be taking questions. So whatever he says in his statement will be all reporters have to work with. Then, Shohei walks in. And trailing just steps behind him, where Ipe would normally be, is Will Ayerton. Ayerton is a longtime Dodgers employee who once worked as a Japanese interpreter. And now he's interpreting for Shohei. This is the first time many people are seeing Shohei speak without Ipe beside him. Obviously, today's going to be limited to obviously today there are things that I'm limited in being able to talk about. I hope you understand. I do have a document in front of me that I will refer to. Shohay and his new interpreter each have a black folder in front of them with what looks like a written statement. But when Shohay speaks, he looks directly into the camera. In conclusion, He said he has been stealing money from my account and has told lies. A six-year relationship that had touched nearly every part of Shohei's life was over. And Shohei was breaking up with Ipe in the most public way possible at a live news conference in front of the media and fans. Upon further, in fact that In fact, over the past month, I've been saying, and all the other questioning, it was revealed that it was actually, in fact, Ipe, who was in debt and told my representatives that I was paying off those debt. And all of this has been a complete lie. Shohei said Ipe had been stealing from him. using his money to pay off debts to an illegal bookie. He wanted to make it clear that he had never bet on baseball or any sports, that he had never asked someone to bet on his behalf. And he says he never used a bookie. You know, to summarize how I'm feeling right now, I'm just beyond shocked. It's really hard to verbalize how I am feeling at this point. This was the longest show he, had ever spoken publicly about his private life. Shohei and his new interpreter speak for 12 minutes. You know, I'm looking forward to focusing on the season. I'm glad that we had this opportunity to talk. And I'm sure there will be continuing investigations moving forward. That's it. Thank you very much. Shohei gets up and walks out of the room. This news conference was the first and last. time Shohei ever spoke publicly about what happened. But in that news conference, Shohei placed the blame squarely on IPE, and effectively severed IPE from himself, from baseball, and from the millions of fans who love Shohei. Shohei's version of events was obviously very different from what Ipe had told me in that first 90-minute phone call. I had suspected Ipe might be lying to me at certain points. Some of what he said during that call conflicted with what other sources had told me. But at the same time, a lot of it was so detailed, so complex, that it seemed believable. And there were moments when he sounded genuinely ashamed about his gambling and how Shohei had allegedly agreed to pay off his debts. But then Ipe told me he lied. And now Shohei was saying he didn't know anything about the bets and was accusing IPE of massive fraud, fraud with shocking implications to get hired by one of the biggest franchises in MLB, to steal millions with no one noticing, not just from one of the most famous athletes on the planet, but from someone he called his best friend, a friend who he seemed to be with almost 24 hours a day. What would have led him to do this? What kind of guy is he really? Who is IPE? I'm ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson, and this is the betrayal of Shohei Otani. Episode 3, Baseball Boy. Here's the pitch to Octani. The city moves fast, but your vibe, that's different. Sharper, smoother, more alive. The new Honda City isn't just made to drive, it's made to feel. The new Honda City, all new vibe. In 2010, the family of four in California goes missing. And the clues left behind, send investigators on a year's long search. Is this a family on the run? Or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio in 2020, this is what happened to the mixed days. Coming August 11th, wherever you get your podcast, or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes, early access to new episodes, and so much more. All we really knew about EPEA in early 2024 came from a media guide that had been put out by Shohei's previous team, the Los Angeles Angels. Media guides give reporters biographic information about players and staff, and it is super rare for an interpreter to get his own entry. But the Angel's Media Guide outlined Ipe's background and resume, where he grew up, where he went to college, and where he worked before he began interpreting for Shohei. It offered a window into the life of Shohei Otani's constant companion. But a few days after our story broke, we learned that there was a big problem with this media guide. We learned more details about Shohei Otani's translator. And if you look back at his past, it was checkered and some details were false. It turned out much of what was in EPA's official team bio wasn't true. My ESPN colleague Tim Kuhin and I went through it to see what did and didn't hold up once reporters started asking questions. Okay, I want to go line by line since we're sitting here. It's a sixth season with the Angels as an interpreter. Is that true or false? True. Born in Japan. True. Grew up in Diamond Bar, California. True. Attended Diamond Bar High School. True. Graduating from the University of California, Riverside in 2007. False. Do we know where he went to college? We don't think he went to college. So the information the Angels had about his education was wrong. Misahara served as an interpreter for Okajima. Hadeki Okajima is a Japanese player who pitched for the Boston Red Sox. Ipe's bio says he interpreted for Okajima at one point. The Boston Red Sox say they never employed him, and he would have had to be an employee of the team in order to interpret for Okajima. So the details about IPE's experience were wrong, too. It says Okajima during Yankee spring training in 2012. And if you look at that, Okajima was injured at the end of the 2011 season and never reported to spring training with the Yankees in 2012. So there was no fact-checking going on here. Hideo Okajima, even addressed this himself, writing on his Instagram that IPE was supposed to interpret for him at Yankee Spring Training in 2012. But because Okajima failed a physical, they didn't end up working together. How did this all end up in the media guide? Is it possible there was no background check on Ipe when he came with Shohei to the angels? Looking at this,