How the saga of Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter unfolded -- and why it's not over

From March 15 through March 20, the accounts of Ohtani and the interpreter’s connection to the investigation overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A., seemed to change by the hour.

The first suggested that there was no link, and that Ohtani had no comment in response to a Times query about the Dodger, Bowyer and the investigation, according to a representative for the ballplayer.

Next came the version that Ohtani generously paid off the gambling losses Mizuhara owed to Bowyer, ESPN reported after The Times story was published.

Then came the current narrative, made public March 20: Mizuhara stole the money. Ohtani said Mizuhara had invented every other rendition of events. In a meeting at their Seoul hotel, Ohtani said, Mizuhara admitted to him the theft and the deception.

There was no clue of Mizuhara’s alleged duplicity early on, as the story began to unfold out of public view and Ohtani’s representatives rolled into action. A day after The Times first left a voicemail message with Ohtani’s agent — Nez Balelo at powerhouse Creative Artists Agency — a crisis public relations manager contacted the newspaper on Ohtani’s behalf. The New York-based publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, has worked with Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate campaign, but also Hollywood figures in trouble such as Johnny Depp, Alec Baldwin and disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for rape and sexual assault.

The Ohtani circle also retained Andrew Brettler, a West Hollywood lawyer who has represented Chelsea Handler as well as several celebrities caught up in sex scandals, including convicted rapist Danny Masterson, Armie Hammer and Prince Andrew.

Ohtani has become a global sensation since debuting with the Angels six years ago. In December, the Dodgers signed him to a 10-year, $700 million contract, the largest in baseball history, with most of the money deferred until after the agreement expires. Ohtani is expected to supplement his salary with an estimated $65 million in commercial endorsements this year, according to the sports business website Sportico.

A spokeswoman for CAA declined to answer questions on the record about whether the organization had any role in managing his finances.

The Times emailed numerous written questions to Brettler last week and has received no reply. The paper sent similar queries to MLB with the same result. The league did, however, announce on Friday that it was launching an investigation into Ohtani and Mizuhara. That was five days after The Times first contacted the league about the gambling investigation, and two days after the paper’s disclosure ignited the scandal.

Among the queries that yielded no response from Brettler are whether Ohtani gave Mizuhara access to his bank account and who in his orbit should have been aware of large wire transfers to a bookmaking operation.

...continued

swipe to next page