REVEALED: Shohei Ohtani was nearly approached by his translator's illegal bookmaker while walking his dog in Newport Beach as it emerges Ippei Mizuhara stole $16MILLION from MLB star to cover huge gambling debts

Shohei Ohtani was nearly approached by his former translator's illegal bookmaker while walking his dog in Newport Beach, California, to ask the Los Angeles Dodgers star for money. 

Ohtani's former Japanese-language translator, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired last month after his illegal gambling habits came to light. It was also revealed in the dossier of evidence that Mizuhara stole $16million from Ohtani to cover his betting losses. 

The near-confrontation would have taken place in November 2023, before Ohtani switch California baseball teams and played for the Los Angeles Angels. 

The suspected illegal bookmaker's name is Matthew Bowyer and the evidence brought against him and Mizuhara has completely cleared Ohtani of any wrongdoing. 

Ohtani's dog is a Kooikerhondje, which has ties to Jack Russell terriers and Beagles, named Dekopin, which translates to flicking someone's forehead in Japanese.

Ippei Mizuhara, 39, made a series of unauthorized transfers from Ohtani's checking account between November 2021 and this January, the Justice Department said.  

Ohtani is one of the biggest stars in baseball who joined the Dodgers last December in a record-breaking $700 million deal.

Combined bets of more than $180 million came from Mizuhara, with Ohtani's former interpreter losing around $41 million, according to prosecutors. 

Mizuhara made 19,000 bets ranging in value from $10 to $160,000 at an average of around $12,800 per bet. 

In 2018, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani, who did not speak any English at the time, to a bank in Arizona to open an account.

What was uncovered by federal investigators shows an abuse of power by Mizuhara beyond his duties as an interpreter. 

It paints Mizuhara as Ohtani's manager and handler.  

'Ohtani's salary from playing professional baseball was deposited into this account and he never gave Mizuhara control of this or any of his other financial accounts,' according to an affidavit in the case.

'Mizuhara allegedly told Ohtani's US-based financial professionals, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani denied them access to the account,' the department added. 

The complaint detailed contact information on Ohtani's bank account was later changed to link to Mizuhara's phone number and to an anonymous email address belonging to Mizuhara, the affidavit said.

Mizuhara would also allegedly falsely identify himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers. 

Bank recordings of telephone calls captured Mizuhara impersonating Ohtani as he sought to make wire transfers, per the affidavit. 

Ohtani being cleared was viewed as murky before Wednesday, due to the sums of money Mizuhara was believed to have bet. 

Prosecutors stated multiple times how one of baseball's best was only a victim in the situation.

Also revealed was the amounts of money Mizuhara spent on gambling, which was far higher than what was previously believed.  

There was no evidence of Mizuhara betting on baseball despite the large sum placed on gambling. 

Major League Baseball's gambling policy bars 'any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee' from betting on baseball, or making illegal bets on any other sport

Players found guilty of gambling of games they were involved in are subject to lifetime bans from the sport, like in the case of Pete Rose. 

If convicted on the bank fraud charges brought forward by prosecutors, Mizuhara could spend up to 30 years in prison.