Despite Thursday being an off day for Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was still in headlines due to former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara being formally charged for felony bank fraud.
The news was announced by U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada and others during a press conference in a Los Angeles courtroom. The conclusions of the investigation answered a lot of questions that surfaced since Mizuhara’s illegal betting activity came to light on March 20.
The findings that federal investigators were able to uncover corroborate many of the statements made by Ohtani during his press conference on March 25. Those had been Ohtani’s only remarks on the matter, during which he adamantly stated he never bet on sports nor agreed to paying off Mizuhara’s gambling debt.
Now that the federal investigation into Mizuhara has concluded, Ohtani expressed gratitude toward the government and reiterated his hope for being able to keep his attention on the Dodgers, according to Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“I’m very grateful for the Department of Justice’s investigation,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “For me personally, this marks a break from this, and I’d like to focus on baseball.”
For Ohtani, it seems to be a weight lifted off his shoulders. It is reasonable to suspect that this process has taken some kind of toll on him, with many in the media calling his character into question as the process unfolded. In a way it makes his performance this season all the more impressive and his attitude throughout the process especially admirable.
Throughout the investigation Ohtani has been as transparent as he can with the public and was cooperative with the federal investigators assigned to his case. Now his reward is peace of mind the truth has come to light.
Shohei Ohtani ties Japanese home run record
With his opposite-field blast in the first inning on Friday night, Ohtani tied Hideki Matsui for most home runs in MLB history by a Japanese-born player with 175.
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