Photo by Davizro on iStock

By: Jovian Kwong

On March 20, 2024, Major League Baseball placed an investigation on Shohei Ohtani’s ex- interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, for an alleged massive theft on the Dodgers superstar. Ippei has been charged with bank fraud and accused of stealing $16 million from Ohtani. Five days later, the National Basketball Association launched an investigation on Toronto Raptors forward, Jontay Porter, for proposition bets related to Porter’s statistics. On April 17, 2024, the NBA issued Porter a lifetime ban from the league; the first time the NBA has ever issued this type of ban since 70 years ago.

According to an ESPN interview, Mizuhara initially stated that he had ordered Ohtani to pay off his debt from gambling which was at least $4.5 million. Since then, prosecutors have claimed that the sum is greater than $16 million. Mizuhara claimed to have bet through DraftKings in the past and to have believed that wagers made with bookmaker Mathew Bowyer were legitimate. Mizuhara said that Ohtani was not happy about it and would help him out to ensure he would not do it again, in which he claims Ohtani paid off the debt. Then Mizuhara changed his story, saying Ohtani had no knowledge of the debts and never transferred any money to the bookmaker. He also claimed he never gambled on baseball, but instead on other sports leagues.

Ohtani responded saying that Mizuhara has been stealing money from his account and has told lies. He repeatedly stated that Mizuhara had lied to his representatives and the media and claimed Mizuhara admitted to him that he wired the money from Ohtani’s account. Prosecutors found that Mizuhara placed 19,000 wages with $142 million in winnings and $182 million in losses, meaning the net loss was more than $40 million. Mizuhara had direct access to Ohtani’s bank account, so he allegedly impersonated Ohtani, providing information to secure the transfers. “Technically I did steal from him,” Mizuhara wrote in a message to the bookmaker. “It’s all over for me.” Mizuhara has now surrendered and can no longer contact Ohtani or leave the state of California. If convicted of bank fraud, he’ll face up to 30 years in prison.

Another scandal involved Toronto Raptors forward, Jontay Porter. An investigation found that Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games, ranging from $15 to $22,000, or $54,000 in total. Porter’s wagers paid out $76,059, for net wins of $21,965. Porter did gamble that the Raptors would lose, even though none of the bets involved a game that he played. 

The NBA investigated two Raptors games, regarding Porter’s statistics. According to DraftKings Sportsbook Insights, Porter’s proposition bets were the highest money makers that night in the NBA on two separate NBA action nights since January. On January 26, the under on 0.5 3-pointers was a hit at -120. On the night of March 20, his propositions were the biggest money makers in the NBA.

NBA commissioner, Adam Silver has called the accusation a “cardinal sin” and on April 17, he issued Porter the extreme penalty of a lifetime ban from the league. It was revealed that following the Raptors’ game on March 20, Porter provided a confidential health tip to someone he knew to be a sports bettor. A third person, wagered $80,000 on a parlay to win $1.1 million, with the assumption being that Porter would perform poorly during the against the Kings. The league said that Porter withdrew from the March 20 game against Sacramento, after three minutes, citing illness, to ensure that the wager was successful.

The two scandals have been outright despicable to fans and to the victims involved. It has created drama and placed bad news to the start of the MLB season and the end of the NBA season. Sports betting has gone out of control since it was legalized in 2018. Ultimately, it has got a player banned from the NBA and an interpreter banned from ever seeing his former best friend.

Works Cited

Patterson, Hunter. “Timeline of Jontay Porter’s NBA Career and Gambling Investigation That Led to Ban.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 18 Apr. 2024, theathletic.com/5423774/2024/04/17/jontay-porter-nba-gambling-ban-timeline/.Snyder Matt. “Shohei Ohtani Interpreter Scandal Explained: Everything We Know as Prosecutors Say Ippei Mizuhara Stole $16m.” CBSSports.Com, 15 Apr. 2024, www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/shohei-ohtani-interpreter-scandal-explained-everything-we-know-as-prosecutors-say-ippei-mizuhara-stole-16m/.