20/20 - Introducing 'The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani'

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

Today, we're sharing a look at a new true crime podcast from our colleagues at ESPN Audio. In the first two episodes of 'The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,' ESPN Investigative Reporter Tisha Thompson receives a tip that, if true, could damage Shohei Ohtani’s picture-perfect reputation.  Then, a surprising interview takes a strange turn and deepens the mystery around Shohei Ohtani and his long-time interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.  To listen to the rest of 'The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,' follow 30 for 30 Podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This show is sponsored by Murder in the Heartland, a podcast from ID. Murder in the Heartland explores real crimes across small-town America, towns that might look a lot like your own. Every week uncover shocking stories of murder and betrayal. From a suspicious hunting accident to a college student who disappears after her shift at the local bar. Hear from investigators, witnesses, and family members as they share the chilling details behind each case. If you're interested in true crime with a small town twist, you might love this podcast. Listen to Murder in the Heartland wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, 2020, listeners. Today we've got something special for you from our colleagues at ESPN and 30 for 30. It's the first two episodes of a striking new crime series called the Betrayal of Shohei Otani. What happens when the person you trust most betrays you? That's the question at the heart of this new series. Japanese baseball superstar Shoheyotani and his interpreter Ipe Mizahara were one of the most famous bromances in professional sports. They were seen together nearly all the time, label best friends, until a little bit of all fell apart because of 19,000 bets, 17 million stolen and the wild world of sports gambling.

It's a story you might have heard about, but it turns out what was reported in the news was just the beginning. Today, we're bringing you episodes one and two of this six-episode season. If you want to listen to the rest, search 30 for 30 podcasts or the betrayal of Shohei Otani wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening. It's November 24, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in their home stadium, celebrating their World Series win. The players line up on the podium. Team manager Dave Roberts takes the mic and introduces some of the stars. And then he calls out the name everyone's waiting for.

Shohei Otani just finished his first season with the Dodgers. He's a head taller than a lot of his teammates, and he's wearing a T-shirt and backwards ball cap when he gives a shy grin as he takes the mic. This is so special format movie. This is one of the first times that Shohei has spoken publicly in English without an interpreter. I'm so honored to be here and to be part of his team.

Congratulations, Los Angeles. Thank you for us. That's all he says, and the crowd absolutely loves it. By any measure, Shohay's first season with the Dodgers was extraordinary. Many believe he could become the best baseball player of all time. It's really not hyperbole, guys, to say that Shohei Otani is the new Babe Ruth. It's the kind of success that helps overshadow what happened just months before at the start of this season when Shohei was caught up in a scandal that could have ended at all.

We're going to turn to the scandal Rocky Major League Baseball. Shohei Otani is set to address the media today. The scandal has the potential to be one of the biggest sports scandals that we've ever seen, and certainly one of the biggest baseball scandals that we've ever seen. Our team at ESPN broke the story. It tied the money of one of the highest paid players in baseball history to a vast illegal sports betting operation. But when it was over, he would walk away.

And someone else, someone close to him, would confess to a shocking crime disappearing in disgrace. And in this moment, at the World Series celebration, you could almost forget it ever happened. But two years later, I still have so many questions. So I'm going to travel the country, chase down Leeds, and try to understand how one of sports' most complicated friendships detonated into one of the biggest scandals in baseball history. Federal investigation. Questions about wire transfers. $4.5 million to a Southern California bookmaker.

and he has no idea of it. I'm ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson from 30 for 30 podcasts. This is the betrayal of Shohei Otani. Episode 1, the letter O. Mysteries unravel and stunning truths are revealed when 2020 investigates. Follow the clues, the evidence, the breaking new details. ABC's 2020 means true murder mystery. Shocking.

If you follow true crime in 2020, then you, you'll follow true crime in 2020. You've got to listen to this. Subscribe now to 2020 True Crime Plus. Add free exclusive true crime content. Search 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts and start for free trial. Terms apply. Growing businesses deal with the same problem. Too many tools, too much back and forth, and not enough time. Odu helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in

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I started working on this story a year before Shohay won that World Series when a source sent me a tip. At first, the tips seemed to have nothing to do with baseball or any sport. it was information from a federal court document still under seal, a list of items that had been seized from a house in California. It included the kinds of things you might expect from a federal raid, computers, hard drives, and cell phones. But there were also $40,000 brightling watches,

handbags from Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and casino chips. Lots and lots of casino chips. Why were the feds interested in it? Because all of these things were taken from a house owned by a man named Matt Boyer. The feds also seized a cash counting machine, sports betting records, and receipts for offshore bankwires. And that's when I say to myself, I think Matt Boyer is a bookie. A person who takes bets, pays them out when they win, and collects when they lose. My source confirms it.

Mad Boyer is a bookie, but he isn't just any bookie. According to my source, his clients include celebrities, millionaires, and seemingly one of the most famous athletes in the world. When my source tells me the name of that athlete, it's a name so big, so shocking that all I write down is the letter O. You tell me the name of the athlete involved and that the feds are involved in an investigation and that is why we have to be so careful. This is my editor, Elaine Tang. We're really worried about putting a rumor out there

that then comes back to us as fact. We have to be really careful about going out and saying, like, hey, like, do you think, is Shohei Otani gambling with a bookie? This tip was so potentially damning. needed to tread really carefully because it could turn into a very grown-up version of that kids' game telephone where someone whispers something to someone and then they whisper it to someone else. And by the time it comes back to you, it's totally different from what you said.

I couldn't just ask sources questions like, hey, does Shohei gamble? Even if the answer was no, they might tell someone else in the clubhouse that ESPN was asking if Shohei gambled. And then that person says to someone else, hey, I heard Shohei gambles. By the time I call several someone's later, that person then says to me, oh, yeah, I have heard he gambles. All I have done is confirm a rumor that I started, a rumor about Shohei Otani paying millions of dollars to an illegal bookie. I think it was the amount of money involved as well as the caliber of the athlete that feels really loaded and, you know, extremely damaging, if true, right, to the athlete, their reputation. their career.

It's a very serious allegation. I want to learn everything I can about what someone could get themselves into betting with a bookie. So I head to the sports betting epicenter of the country. We are in Las Vegas, baby. I'm in Las Vegas to meet with the reporter I think knows more about bookies and sports betting than anyone else in the business. What do you think the biggest moneymaker is for the casino?

Penny slot. That's correct. Am I right? That's correct. This is ESPN's David Purdom. I met him in a casino just off the Vegas strip. We sit down in a room near the sports book, watching as people place beds. Do they put the sports book in the back on purpose?

It's making you walk through all the EFlock machines. I wanted to talk to Purdom about the tip I received because he has a massive rolodex of sources in the sports betting world. Had you ever heard of Matt Boyer before? No, I had not. Never heard of him. We gave you Matt Boyer. Boyer's name and you called sources. You do the David Purdom magic and disappear for 12 hours and

came back with info. Right. I usually go to, you start with your guys that you know have had this. And when they didn't know, I had to expand. And I did and found some people that knew of him. And then when we found out that he was coming to Vegas a lot, I talked to people here and they knew of him. A source warned Purdom that Boyer was connected to a man with a dangerous reputation. A guy named Owen Hansen, a former USC football player who became known as the Cocaine QB. When I got the original tip, Hanson was in prison for bookmaking and drug trafficking and was rumored to have ties to the cartel. We had a source who was involved with running money for that group,

and he was telling us, be careful, right? Owen Hanson was not known as a good person. He was known as a violent person around the betting community. And when we were ties to Boyer, there was concern. Over the next few weeks, we gathered more sources and confirmed Boyer was running a huge sports book operation in Southern California. Is California more prolific with bookies than other parts of the world? Massive, massive bookmaking operations.

in California. Why? Because there's no legal sports bet. Sports betting is now legal in 39 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Depending on where you live, you can place bets through a state licensed app, a website, or in a casino or a bar in those states.

But unless you're betting on a horse race, sports betting in California is illegal. There is no legal way to place a sports bet there, not on draft kings, not on Fandul, not in the tribal casinos. So if you live in California and you want to bet on sports, you either have to go

somewhere like Vegas or find a bookie, which is, of course, illegal. But there are many reasons why someone might want to use a bookie, even if the state they live in has legal sports betting. Purdom says a big reason is credit. People want to bet on credit. You don't want to give over your cash. If you can bet on credit, huge advantage. I can just place my bet for $100. my money never changes hands. You go down a thousand bucks. The guy says, okay, let's meet up at the Waffle House, and you go there and you pass over an envelope,

and that's how it's done. Another reason someone might seek out a bookie is anonymity. If you are an athlete betting with the draft kings, there's a chance that we could find it. But if you can be betting with this illegal sportsbook over here, I would not be able to know it. So Perdom says a celebrity who wants to, to bet discreetly might use a bookie.

When I told him that Shohei Otani was the athlete, my source told me might be involved with Matt Boyer. I was stunned. I remember when you relayed the message to me who the athlete was. I was like, oh, my gosh, I believe I cursed. Why is sports betting such a sensitive topic for Major League Baseball? Well, you start with the Black Sox way back at the beginning. of the century, the Chicago White Sox, several players of them got engaged with some criminals,

and they allegedly agreed to throw a World Series. Major League Baseball banned eight players from the Chicago White Sox for life. And after that scandal, the league created a set of rules about betting on sports. It forbids players, coaches, and staff from using a bookie. and you may never bet on baseball. So that was the big one. The next time you get some sort of betting scandal is Pete Rose. Number 4,192 makes Pete Rose the all-time Major League Baseball hit leader.

All-time hits leader. He eventually admitted to betting on the game of baseball. I was wrong. It was stupid. Worst thing I ever did in my life. In 1989, MLB punished Pete Rose with a lifetime ban for betting on baseball. baseball. Pete Rose was one of the greatest ball players of his generation. He holds records that have never been broken. But all of his feats on the field have been overshadowed by what he did off the field.

Could Shohei Otani the greatest player of his generation be the next Pete Rose? If they were to have found out that he was betting on baseball, he would have been banned for life. And this is your biggest star, band for life. Part of what made the allegation so shocking was how Shohei Otani had a reputation for being squeaky clean. Before this, there's never been a whisper of a scandal attached to his name, which makes it all the more surprising to hear allegations that he might be tied to a bookie with dangerous connections. But we realized we don't actually know all that much about show his life outside of baseball. He is the most guarded and protected athlete that I think I've ever been around.

This is ESPN's Tim Kuhin. Tim specializes in writing profiles of the most famous and oftentimes controversial names in sports. People like Barry Bonds, Aaron Rogers, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Tim says he's been trying to decipher the enigma that is Shohay Otani ever since he first arrived here in the United States. When he came here, I first started observing him, knowing that I was going to have to observe him to write about him rather than talk to him, because it was established early on that it was a dead end. He will only take questions about the game and very few, three, maybe four in each language. And these are in like bit questions.

I want to know, like, you just threw 117 pitches. Are you, what do you feel today? And he would not, He just doesn't entertain those. He's just not built that way. Tim says most of what you know about Shohay is limited to what Shohay is willing to tell you. And it rarely leaves the realm of the ballpark. And when it does, it's on Shohay's terms. Like when he got married, people didn't even know Shohay was in a relationship until he posted about his wife on Instagram.

He has lots of titles. MVP, gazillionaire, superstar, but husband had alluded to until now and he made the announcement where else but on social media that reads not only have begun a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers but I also have begun a new life with someone from my native country of Japan who is very special to me and I wanted everyone to know I am now married show his teammates and even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't know about it do you know what I felt like it was a good timing because it's before the season I didn't want really any distractions once the season start I think there is this, the sort of the aura, right?

Like, just leave him alone to do what he does because the distractions are not something he's interested in. He's not interested in talking to me, to be honest. He does it as an obligation after he pitches. If he hits two home runs in a game, he'll stand there and answer questions in the most anodyne way possible. Are you nervous at all playing in the postseason for the first time? Nope. But the league, the teams, and the fans don't seem to mind not knowing much about Shohey's life off the field because what's happening on the field is record-breaking.

He's really challenged our idea of limits because he has shown his talent to be limitless. He does the two things that excite baseball people more than anything else. He can throw a baseball over 100 miles an hour and he can hit a ball 500 feet. It's like the two headline acts of baseball. He is among the best in the world at both, if not the best. There goes Otati. It's a lead-off home run after he struck out three at the top of the first. He is a dream for Major League Baseball.

And the Dodgers rewarded him in the fall of 2023 with a record-breaking contract. It is the announcement that took the baseball world by storm today. $100 million over 10 years. Oh my goodness. One of the league's premier franchises made a historic bet on Shohei, because they knew his success would be their success. They stood to make a lot of money, too. Ticket sales, merchandise, partnerships, show his success could pay off big time for

the Dodgers in MLB. Shohei himself makes more than $125 million in endorsements a year, with much much of that money coming from advertisements in Japan. When I was there, I was shocked by you could literally not walk more than two blocks in Tokyo without seeing his face on something, whether it was a green tea or a water, sports drink or Hugo Boss or something. I mean, everywhere is Otani. After touching down in Tokyo, it's easy to see Otani mania is really a thing.

Everyone in Japan is by default a Shohei fan. The appetite for Otani, the love for Otani, appears to be as limitless as his talent. If Shohay's reputation takes a hit, it wouldn't just tarnish his name. It would have devastating consequences for the Dodgers, for Major League Baseball, and for Japan. When you were first told that Otani might be involved in some kind of betting scandal, what was your initial reaction? Shock. Shock combined with sort of a reassessment of everything I had seen leading up to that, plus another layer of, like, who knows?

I'd been investigating this tip for two months when in January 2024, a source tells me to look at a different player who may be a critical link. David Fletcher was an infielder for the Los Angeles Angels. He and Shohei played together for six seasons. And Tim tells me it was widely known that they were friends. They played bumper pool together and they played Clash of Clans and was just this sort of buddy comedy, this little white guy and this big Japanese guy buddying around. Fletcher's social media shows he is an avid poker player.

I don't think he broadcast it, but I don't think he hit it. And his love of poker would end up being vital to our investigation. When I call him in January, Fletcher admits to me he knows Matt Boyer. They had golfed together, but he wouldn't call them friends. Fletcher tells me he heard that Boyer might be a bookie, but he insists he's never bet with Boyer. Worried about spreading a rumor, I don't ask if Boyer is Shohey's bookie. I don't ask anything about Shohei. By this point, I've developed more sources, and I learn there is a paper trail that connects Shohay Otani to Matt Boyer, and I've tracked down a source who has that proof. But they're nervous, and it takes weeks before the source agrees

to show it to me, and they're not going to make it easy. It's the middle of the night. I'm driving to meet my contact. I find them standing outside of a car in a parking lot waiting for me. I drop into the passenger seat. The contact hands me a cell phone and tells me the proof I want will appear on an encrypted app and each image will disappear in 30 seconds. I can't take pictures, but I can take notes. I pull out my notebook and I tell my contact, I'm ready. A document appears on the screen, September 14th, 2023, $500,000. I spot the word loan and scribble it down in my notebook, but I don't have time to ask questions because the second document appears, October 2, 2023. $500,000. Both documents include the same long list and numbers on the screen. Later, after I drive away,

I will stare at the jumble of letters and numbers I scribbled into my notebook, and I'll realize it's routing information. I just saw wire transfers from a bank account at Bank of America, and there's a name attached to the account, Shohay Otani. According to the screenshots I just saw, Shohay Otani's bank account sent wire transfers to Matt Boyer's elite. bookmaking operation. I saw two of them, totaling a million dollars. I've got it, the direct link between Shohei and the bookie's operation. But before I can even begin to wrap my head around what I've seen, a source reaches out with new information and a new name. Interpreter Ipe Mizuhara. Ipe Mizahara, Shohay's interpreter for the past six years. The source tells me,

IPE is prepared to say he was the one gambling, and that Shohei was paying his debts. Sophistication, class, restraint, dignity. None of these words have anything to do with Super Troopers 3. One, two, three, go! Farber in the house! Hope you guys are too drunk already! This Friday, no new info on the guy who did it. Oh, so it couldn't have been a woman?

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If there's someone we know even less about than Shohay Otani, it's Ipe Mizahara, Shohay's interpreter. His biography provided by the Los Angeles Angels says Ipe was born in Japan but grew up in Southern California. Before he joined the Angels, Ipe worked in Japan for the Nippon Hamfighters baseball team as an interpreter for American players, and that's where he met Shohay. And when Shohei signed with the Angels in December of 2017, he brought Ipe along with him as his interpreter.

I want to talk about why I joined Angels, but I want you guys to see me trying to adjust with the team throughout the spring training. And I think you guys will find out why I chose the Angels. That was the right choice. Ever since they arrived in the States, Shohay and Ipe are always together, with Ipe seemingly just a few steps behind Shohay at all times.

And IPE does a lot more than just translate. Ipe carries Shohei's gear. When Shohei needs a ride, Ipe drives him. When Shohei warms up for a game, he doesn't use a pitching coach. He throws to IPE. When Shohei competed in the 2021 MLB home run derby, he chose IPE to be his catcher. What fun moment that's going to be for him. Hopefully he's not having to catch too much.

They walk red carpets together. Teammates and others have even wondered if the two men lived, together, but they've never confirmed it. Your day and life with Shohei, I mean, what do you guys do throughout the day before you even get here through the ballpark? Well, we breakfast every day at the hotel. If we're on the road, if not at home, then it's pretty much it. It got to the point where, you know, I wondered, how could you spend that much time with one

person? When my colleague Tim Kuhn began to watch Shohei and Ipe off the field, it was clear to him that Ipe was different from other interpreters. To call him an interpreter is almost laughable because that was almost the least important part of his job. And the routine was always the same where Shohei would walk out onto the field and Ipe was like two and a half to three steps behind. It was like a almost felt like a choreograph thing the way they went about it. The only time that Shohei seemed to be by himself, at least at the baseball field

was when he was in the batters box or on the mound. They appeared to be extremely close. There was no Ipe without Shohay. It manifested itself in me by like going to players and saying,

does it ever occur to you that these guys get sick of each other? The source told me they thought Ipe might be taking the fall for Shohay, but I didn't know what to think. The walls were so thick and so impenetrable

that, I mean, anything seemed possible, right? We didn't quite know what to make of the IPEA connection. My editor Elaine and I spent weeks investigating the possibilities. Whether it was him himself, whether he was a cover for Otani, whether he was making the bets on Otani's behalf. We didn't know if it was a cover-up. We didn't know the truth. But there are two people who we thought would know the truth.

Show-he Otani and Ipe Misahara. By March 2024, I've been working on this for five months, and we've collected enough information to go to Shohei's agent. In an email, I tell him, I have sources who have told us about Shohei Otani's involvement with Matt Boyer. I purposefully don't tell him that I know Matt Boyer is a bookie or that I've heard Ipe's name. I want to see what their response will be. Two hours later, I get a call from a publicist. named Matt Hiltzik. He tells me he specializes in what's called crisis communication, and Shohay's agent has just brought him on to represent Shohay. Some of Hiltzik's clients have

included Hillary Clinton and Ivankotron, Brad Pitt, Alec Baldwin, and Johnny Depp. When I tell him about the wire transfers that I saw, Hiltzik says he needs to call me back. As I wait, I wonder, will they try to deny it? Will they threaten us with defamation? or will they admit it? My phone rings again a few hours later. Hiltzik says, you're going to get a really good fucking story. You're going to get the truth about what happened.

And then he confirms it. It's true. Shohay's bank account wired millions of dollars to Boyer's operation. But he tells me, someone else did the bets. Shohay was covering for someone else, he says, someone important to his life. I tell him,

I have sources that tell me it's Ipe. He says, you have good sources. I tell him, I want to interview Shohay Otani. He says, maybe I have to see, but I can give you someone else. I'm Ipe, Mizahara, and you do have permission to record me. That's next on the betrayal of Shohay Otani. Economists and betters talk about something called the Black Swan, an event or a series of events that's so rare, so unpredictable, no one would bet on it happening.

March 19th, 2024 was my Black Swan, because the story we had been working on for five months would suddenly change over the next 24 hours. Twisting and turning in ways I could never have expected, and for reasons I'm still trying to understand. I had seen wire transfers that showed a bank account in Shohei Otani's name had wired millions to an illegal bookmaking operation. And Shohei's spokesperson confirmed it. But he told me that Shohei wasn't the one gambling. He says it was his interpreter, Ipe Misahara. Shohei was just paying off Ipe's debts. And now Shohei's team has offered me an interview with someone they said would clear this all up.

All right. I am, this is Tisha Thompson. I am recording this call. Go ahead and tell me who you are. And do I have permission to record you? Yes, Mom. I'm I'm Ipe, Mizahara, and you do have permission to record me. I've never talked to Ipe before, but I instantly recognize his voice. It's the voice of Shohei Otani. Whenever Shohai talks to reporters in Japanese, it's Ipe who translates his words into English. I've been warned by ESPN's baseball reporters that IPE doesn't say much. I'm not sure he'll give me anything more than a prepared statement, and I don't know how much time I'll get with him. But I've been investigating this story for five months,

and I have a lot of questions about how Shohay and his money got tied up in all of this, what Ipe's role was, and I wonder if what Ipe tells me will hold up to my line of questioning. I reach Ipe in South Korea. He's in Seoul with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are set to play the San Diego Padres in just a few hours. It's the opening game of the MLB season. All right, I, Pepe. What I would like to do is have you told me your story and your words?

Oh, okay. Shohey Otani is about to play his first regular season game in a Dodgers jersey, and he will deliver. he'll get his first hit, his first steal, his first RBI for the Dodgers. But that will not be the top headline tomorrow, because his interpreter is about to steal the show. Here's the pitch to Otani. I'm ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson. From 30 for 30 podcasts, this is the betrayal of Show Hey Otani.

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By now I've confirmed that Boyer is under federal investigation, and the wire transfers I saw, the ones with Sho Hay's name on them went to Boyer's operation. So what I'm going to do is start at what I think is the beginning. Can you tell me how you met Matt Boyer? Yes. So I met him at a local poker game. He knew I was show his interpreter. He kind of approached me saying like he's like a fan.

Okay. Did he tell you what he did for a living? He told me that he, has a sports book. A sports book is just a place that takes sports bets. It can be a brick and mortar building or an app or a website. Ipe tells me he'd bet in Las Vegas sports books in the past, and he was betting once in a while on Draft Kings.

He says he didn't realize that Boyer's sports book was different, that it was illegal. I thought it was legal this whole time. Okay. And once I found out that there's a federal investigation going to two, three days ago. That's when I first found out, and I was pretty soft to hear that.

So when you started your account, did you have to give, like, a credit card or put some cash in or anything like that? No, he had a credit line. Okay. Shut up for me. IPE is telling me that when he logged on to his account with Boyer, there was already credit there for him to use.

A legal sports book will never give gamblers credit up front. That's one of the main draws for any legal sports book. No money down. Did that raise a red flag for you? Fortunately, it did it at the time. Okay. What did you bet on? What were you betting on?

Oh, I bet on, I've been on football, basketball, soccer, not baseball. I've never been on baseball. oversee, domestic, anything. That's 100%. I knew that. I knew that rule. You did. And that rule be, which rule?

Which rule? Not to bet on baseball. Who told you that? We have, like, a meeting about that in spring training. Okay. Too much thing going back on baseball ever. But it was okay to bet on other sports other than baseball, with my understanding. This tracks with major league.

League Baseball's rules on sports betting. Players and team employees can bet on sports, but they may not bet on baseball, and they cannot use a bookie. Did anyone ever tell you that you couldn't use a bookmaker? I don't fully recall. But Ipe says once he met the bookie, he began to rack up millions of dollars in debt. Why were you doing this? What was it doing for you?

Oh, okay. Um, okay, so at the time, and I couldn't share this with Joe Hey, but it was hard for me to make, like, my ends meet. I was kind of going paycheck to paycheck because I kind of had to keep up with his lifestyle. But at the same time, I didn't want to tell him this. Obviously, it ended up being the worst case scenario. I didn't want to go to help. I didn't want to go to him for help financially, stuff like that. So I was just trying to make ends meet on my side.

I was in debt a little bit and stuff with my parents and some friends. And the time that I started gambling, the fact that he said he's going to give me some credit. I felt like I had a chance to kind of make the money back and just got. lowered into the worst situation. I'm wondering if this response might be rehearsed. It feels like a clean answer that just came pouring out of IPE in one go. Before this, the most we had ever heard him speak

was when he interpreted Shohei's words. He rarely ever spoke about himself. I'm curious. You were talking about how, you know, you couldn't keep up with Shohay's lifestyle, and you didn't tell him that, but you couldn't do it. How much do you make each year? At the time, I was making about $85,000 a year.

This is 2021-ish. Yes. Okay. Did you start to make more than that over the next couple months or years? Um, well, now with the Dodgers, I am making more money. And last year with the Angels became a pretty good raise. Okay. I have been told you make roughly $300,000.

Is this going to go out on the story? I've had someone tell me it's 300,000. If that is incorrect, I want to know. Okay. Well, my new deal with the dollars was a little bit more than that. Okay. Is it more than $500,000? No. Back in 2021, with his $85,000 a year salary, IPE says it was tough to make ends meet.

So when Boyer's sports book offered him credit, he says it seemed like a chance to make some money. So did it go bad quickly, or did you win some money? I never cast out. I'm terrible. I'm never going to do it ever again. I never want any money from there. You really?

And I just kept on losing and I just kept on digging a deeper hole. Oh. I just couldn't get out of it. Did you tell anyone? No, I did not. Why? Mainly it was just embarrassing. Yeah.

I didn't. Yeah. I mean, my wife doesn't even know about any others until even right now. Okay. She's with us in Korea right now, and she's, like, having a great time with, like, to her family. And my heart's just, like, ripping of her every minute, like. She noticed that I'm, like, weird, nothing weird. and just kind of like call her right now.

It's going to ruin the whole trip. Ipe pauses. And another voice jumps into the conversation. His name is Matt Hiltzik. He's Shohai Otani's spokesperson, and he's been listening in on this call the whole time. When he speaks up here, he tells Ipe, we're all here for you, and we're all going to help you.

He says, we care about you as a person. As he continues to reassure Ipe, I wonder if he is talking to EPA or if this speech is actually meant for me. Because the spokesperson was hired to protect Shohei and Shohei's reputation. He doesn't represent EPA or Ipe's interests. He tells Ipe, we just want the truth. When he stops talking, I take my cue to continue. How much do you estimate you lost overall with a boy? lawyer's operation.

That's one thing that I would like to keep disclosed as possible. I think it's really embarrassing. If the amount gets out, and it's possible I'd like to keep it disclosed. I had seen the wires showing that Shohei Otani's bank account had sent money to the bookies operation. Multiple sources have told me at least $4.5 million left Shohei's account. But I've heard it could be a lot more, maybe as much as $16 million.

I have sourcing that says that Boyer's Operation was paid at least $4.5 million. What is your response to that? I would say that is pretty accurate. Okay. Is it more than that? I don't think so. Okay. For people who have never been in this place, how do you get to $4.5 million?

Is it because you keep hoping, for instance, that the next bet is going to bail you out? Or, you know, for someone who doesn't know what it's like, how do you get to $4.5 million? I mean, I dug myself a hole and kept on getting bigger. It's meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It's like a snowball effect. How did you start paying him back? So that's when I had to go to Shohei for help. I pay is about to explain why the money was coming from Shohei's bank account,

even though IPE is the one gambling. By 2023, IPE had racked up millions of dollars in debt, And to pay off those debts, he says he goes to Shohei. How did that go down? Well, I explained my situation what's going on and why I'm in this much of a debt. And obviously, I mean, he wasn't happy about it, but he said he would help me out, make sure I never do this again. And that's pretty much what happened.

And he decided to pay it off for me. Did he offer or did you ask? I asked. How do you ask someone? I mean, it's been characterized to me that the two of you are best friends, that you were as close as brothers. You know, like, how would you characterize your relationship with him? He's best friends.

We are like brothers. I mean, we're with each other every day. Yeah. Spend more time with him than my wife probably. Yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, he's like a family to me. Yeah. Ipe and Shohay were always around each other.

There seemed to be a genuine closeness between them. Tim saw it, others did too. And now, Ipe says they really are that close. Was it hard to come to him, or was it easy because you are so close? Extremely hard. Yeah. I didn't want, like, that was the last thing I wanted to. I mean, initially, I didn't want to go to him about making my ends meet him.

This was on another level, so it was really, really difficult. Were you frightened? Yes. Yes. In that moment when you went to him, what were you afraid of? I'm afraid that, I mean, a lot of things, I mean, you know, trust that we built up. I'm afraid I might go away. He might think of me differently, stuff like that.

Were you afraid for your safety or anything like that? Safety? Mm-hmm. I mean, yeah, I was. I was because I was in that much step. I didn't know. Someone's going to come to my house one day. Yeah.

I had those kind of thoughts, too. I'm intrigued by E. Pays response. His initial fear is what his debt will do to his relationship with Shohei. But when I bring up his safety, he says, yes, he was afraid. But he's told me he thought this was a legal sports book. So why would he be afraid? Legal sports books don't come knocking at your door to collect their debts. So I would like to get into the specifics of what Shohay offered you when you told him you were in trouble. You said you asked him for help.

Did you ask him for money? I asked him if he could pay my debt off. He had to give us some thoughts. Had he ever gambled himself as far as you're aware? He had to gamble, ever. I can guarantee us for my life on the line. He's never placed any sports. that's ever in this life.

Ipe says Shohei would even talk about how much he disliked gambling. He thinks gambling is terrible and obviously he doesn't need the money. How do you know he thinks gambling is terrible? Well, because he sees the, like, people, like, our teammates would be gambling all the time and he'll be like, why are these things like gambling is not good? When he would make comments like that, how would that make you feel internally? Oh, terrible. Yeah.

So that makes it even harder to go to him, I would imagine. Yeah. Yeah, it feels very hard to go to him. You said he went to go think about it. So what does he come back to you with? Like, walk me through that conversation. I mean, so the next time I see him, he said, I'm just going to pay this all off for you to make sure, like, go everywhere into this shit again.

I mean, I was basically, he was pretty, like, short and simple. Did you discuss how to pay it off? Yeah, he asked me how, like, what do I need to do? And I got him to wire information because it's Boyer's account. Did you reach out the border again? I'm getting really granular here because I want to know exactly step by step what the process was that led to those wire transfers. If what Ipe's saying is true, what role did Shohay play in sending money to an illegal bookie? So did you send him a text message? Was it an email? Did he send it to you?

Did you, like, how does this work? Well, he texts. I think he texted me is, um, wire info. So you turn around and say to show, hey, here's the wire transfer information. Do you show it to him on your phone? Do you text it to him? Do you do it for him? Like, how does that go?

I did it on his behalf. Okay. provision. So do you have access to his bank account? No, I don't. Okay, so when you say you did it on his behalf, explain to me how that works. She was with me.

I was with him on this laptop or computer. And I guess he could log in, online banking, and send the wire. Ipe says Shohay knew about the wires. He says that they sent them together. My adrenaline is pumping. If that's true, he's just put Shohay's fingerprints on the transaction. It wasn't just that the money was coming from Shohay's account. Ipe says Shohay was involved.

By telling me this, by admitting this, he's directly implicating Shohay in sending millions to an illegal bookmaking operation that's underwent. investigation for money laundering. I'm wondering, does Ipe realize what he just said? When an investigative reporter reaches out about a story that connects a celebrity to potential scandal, it usually kicks off a careful PR response. But here is Ipe possibly implicating Shohay in something that could jeopardize his career. Was this the plan?

Is he going off script? Has my line of questioning forced him to reveal something? he didn't mean to, because the spokesperson doesn't intervene. So I keep going. What was his understanding of who Boyer was? Did he know that Matt was a bookie? I don't think he had any clue who he was or what he did. I just told him that this is a guy that I either sent the wire to pay off the bed.

He didn't say, have you done anything illegal or anything like that? No, I don't think he's questioned me about that. One of the things that we know about the transfers is that it says loan on them, and I'm curious why it says loan. You had to add a description for the wire. Mm-hmm. I think Matt might have told me it's to loan or you had to put something there. If you wire a real loan to someone, you don't pay income taxes on it. But if you lie about it, and it's not actually a loan, you're potentially committing tax fraud.

I would be interested in seeing any kind of text messages or communications from that. I deleted every tax I have with that. Up until this point, I've let I pay tell me his story in his words. I haven't really pushed back on what he says, for a reason. I wanted to see where he would go with it. But now I need to challenge some of what he's told me. So, and forgive me for the CPI, this is a lot of money.

You tell him you're in trouble. You know it's for gambling. Mm-hmm. You really didn't sit there and think about whether this is legal or not. Me? Blackfell's? Yeah. I never really crossed.

my mind ever that this was like illegal at all. A couple of days ago when I found out there was an investigation going on. Did you think at any point by asking Shohei to pay your debt that he would potentially be committing, he would be putting himself, frankly, in the situation we're in right now, where there would be questions about legality? I don't think either of us did think about that. at all. The kind of relationship where he does think without questioning it?

The spokesperson jumps in here. He says to IPE, he wasn't happy with you, right? No. Yeah, he was definitely not happy. Ipe tells me Boyer wanted the money in a lump sum, but they could only send the wires in $500,000 installments. He says he and Shohei sent about eight or nine payments over the course of several months in 20.

That matches what my sources have told me. After you tell him about your situation and he begins to make these payments on your behalf, did it or how did it change your relationship with him? Honestly, to be honest, in the beginning, I felt really uncomfortable. It was hard to like seeing him. But the nice guy that, I mean, he's a great guy. And she just, so much she went on his life like nothing ever happened. Shohay going on with his life in 2023, equated to hitting 44 home runs

and earning the MVP award in the American League. And now Ipe is telling me that all that time, he and Shohay found the time to sit down together and secretly wire millions of dollars to Boyer's operas. I felt like maybe like after a few weeks a month, I really should say got back to where it was before. I mean, for me, I felt really uncomfortable for the first, like, a few weeks. And, like, really guilty and felt terrible.

But I mean, he kind of helped that go away. But you had to keep making these payments. Yes. did you have to keep having this conversation? But he knew the whole amount, and he knew that we had to make several payments because you couldn't send more than $500,000 at a time. So it wasn't like I asked him every week, like, oh, sorry, this came up again. It wasn't like that.

How was it? In the beginning, when I told them, like, this is how much I meant that? And that was the whole amount. But he knew that he had to pay that whole amount of loss for me. It was going to be an increment. So would you go to him and remind him? Would he just do it of his own volition? No, I would do it with them every time.

And it just became normal. It wasn't awkward like it was in the beginning. Is that what you're saying? Yes. For me, I mean, it was all. So I was out of every time. You're right. It was a wiring.

But he didn't make a very important. big deal out of it. No. Yeah. How did you feel about that? Explain to me how that made you feel. I mean, very appreciative, obviously, but at the same time, she really, really, like, a super guilt trip, like, really guilty, terrible.

And, I mean, ever since that day, like, I, I, I, always in the back of my mind is haunting me every day. I always think about it. Like, it's always there in my head. I'm not sure it will ever go away. Did you offer to ever pay him back? Or was this, you know, I'm going to pay this and we're cool? Or did you say, let me try to pay some of this back?

No, I'm going to pay him back. I thought I'm going to pay him back. And I take a while, but I don't know. And even if he says no or anything, I'm going to make all the effort to pay him back. What's really important to me is that I understand correctly about why Shohei would pay an illegal bookmaker directly from his bank account and call it a loan rather than just giving money to you, EPAY, to pay off your debts. So we didn't know that this was illegal, first of all. I think that's very important. And he didn't want to give the money to me,

and he didn't want me to try to gamble it off again, so he wanted to make sure it's going back to the debt. Like my source had predicted, IPE is taking the blame. He says he was the gambler, and he asked Shohei to pay off. office debts. But there's a critical question that I've been building to here, which is simply, why should I believe you, I pay?

One of the things that's been said to me is that Otani owes lawyer money. And I want to understand why it would be characterized that way to me. I would have no idea why anyone would say that. His name is on the bank statement. His name is on the bank statement. His name's the wires. I mean, there's going to be, there's going to be people wondering, is it Otani who did it and you're taking the fall for him? So I want to give you a chance to respond to that. The spokesperson jumps in before IPE can say anything. He tells me, IPE has already answered the question that he's spent the last hour sharing his story, but I push back. No, I know, but I want to give you pay a chance to respond to that

criticism. You know, I'm anticipating, oh, he's just taking the fall for Otani. So what would you say to someone who would accuse you of that? So I never, ever met that Boyer, never talked to him. So there would be no way that so I could have, I mean, been doing this on his own or anything. and it was all me. And that's 100% truth. And all Sohey did was pay it all for me.

And there's like not much more than that. So was there any kind of conversation between the two of you that, like, his name is now going to be on these wire transfers. He's now connected. You see what I'm getting? Like, he's connected to this now. His name, you know, whether it's legal or not. not. His name is now connected to someone that you owe money to.

And he's going to get pulled into this now. Was there, was there really no conversation like, oh, now your name's attached to this? It really wasn't because, like I said earlier, we thought, we didn't notice was illegal because it was 100% legal. And we didn't really think about anything with troubles with his name being involved in this. Obviously, if I knew if this was illegal, then I would never show his name into any of this. This is when the spokesperson interjects again, this time telling me, there's no cover-up. I never said the word cover-up, but the spokesperson doubles down, saying, if people say this is just a cover-up,

it's the worst cover-up in history. Like you're denying there's any kind of cover-up here? There's absolutely no cover-up at all. What was your gut-level fundamental reaction when you learned that Matt was under investigation? I was just scared more than anything. I still am at this moment, but that's about it. What are you scared about at this moment?

Well, when the story goes out, the reactions to the story is, I don't know. I'm afraid of. You're afraid of the media, not necessarily the federal investigators or something like that. Well, I'm not too sure what's going on with, like, the whole federal investigation thing. I just know that there's a little.

an investigation. I don't know any more details. Has anyone reached out to you from the federal government? No, never. Has anyone reached out to Shohay about these bank transfers from the federal government? No, not that I'm allowed. She would tell me if someone's in. We've now been talking for about 80 minutes, and the spokesperson is interrupting more and more. I can feel that my time is running out,

and I'm worried he's going to try to end the interview. I'm getting very close to the end, guys, because I know you're watching the clock. Just bear with you. I'm going through my notes. I can... I'll say. I can...

I have time tomorrow to talk or tonight after the game. I think we're going to have the chance to talk again. He and I seem to have a very different understanding of the gravity of what he's told me. I think he's... he's going to be fired. He may be in even more trouble. I don't know.

Either way, I don't think they're ever going to let me talk to him again. What have I not asked you that you think is really important that people understand, that you want folks to know? Obviously, I want everyone to know that. So they had zero involvement in the betting. I want to make that clear. and I want people to know that I did not know this was illegal. Mm-hmm.

And obviously, I learned my lesson in a very hard way, and I take it to my heart, I'll take it to my heart, and I will never, ever be supposed to being ever again. Never do sports betting. Mm-hmm. Are you prepared to face the consequences if they're, And when I say baseball, I mean the Dodgers are major league baseball decides to take action. Yes, I'm fully prepared to face any of consequences.

After I hang up with IEPA, I begin to type out my story. Ipe Misahara says he lost millions of dollars in bets with an illegal bookmaker. And his best friend, Shohay Otani, someone he says he is closer to than a brother, offered to pay off his debts. At least, that's what the article was going to say. A few hours after I get off the phone with Ipe, the opening day game of the 2024 MLB season gets underway. So please welcome to the field. The staff, coaches, and reserves for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers versus the Padres. The two American teams are at Go-Chuk Skydome in Seoul, South Korea. A little morning baseball back in the United States, evening here in Seoul. I'm watching the game on my laptop while I work on my story. All eyes are on Shohei. 9 seconds, the designated hitter, number 17, Shohei. But at this moment, I don't really care about what's happening on the field. I'm waiting for the cameras to cut away to the dugout.

Waiting, watching for IPE. What does he look like? Is he tired? Because I'm exhausted. I never went to bed, and it's now 6 o'clock in the morning on the East Coast. Will he look stressed? Will Shohay be able to look him in the eye? Because Ipe's made a mess, and now Shohay and his people are going to have to clean it up. And here is Shohay Otani for the first time in Los Angeles, Starcher uniform.

Ipe has just confessed to an ESPN reporter that he racked up millions of dollars of debt betting on sports, and that he and Shohei sent money to an illegal bookmaking operation. In just a couple of hours, we're planning to publish my article that will reveal both of these things to the world. But instead of looking like two men who are in trouble and whose relationship I would think would be under considerable stress, they're laughing. Standing next to each other in the dugout,

watching the game, Shohei and Ipe are laughing together. Very little surprises me these days. But that, the two of them laughing, I was stunned. The Dodgers win game one of this 20-day-Nodgers beat the Padres five to two. As the team walks off the field, into the locker room, we're in the final stages of putting our story together. But less than 15 minutes before we're set to publish, I get a call from Shohey's spokesperson, Matt Hiltzik. When I pick up, he shouts into the phone. Ipe lied.

Matt Hiltig is freaking out in a way I've never before experienced in my career. He's frantic, telling me that Shohay just now learned about the transfers from his account, just now in the locker room. He says Shoeh had no idea Ipe was using his money to pay off the debts and that the whole thing was a lie. He says he's still trying to figure out what happened and hangs up. Not long after, I get a statement from Otani's lawyers. It says, in the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.

I call Ipe. I don't record it. Everything is moving too fast. I read him the statement, and he confirms it, but won't say anything more. Ipe, I say, did you lie to me last night in some of your statements? Yes. I'm worried he'll hang up and I need clear answers. So I jump into a set of yes or no questions. Did Shohay transfer funds to the bookmaking operation? No.

Did Shohay know the funds were being transferred? No. Did you tell Shohay about the gambling deaths and wiring the money? No. Did you offer to pay him back? Yes. When? As soon as I can.

I ask, today or in the past? Ipe says, I told him today and the past. I'd been told by Shohay's team that he only learned just now that Ipe took his money. But I pei's saying he had offered to pay it back in the past. So I start to ask him, when did Shohay learn his money was missing? But I per rubs me. They told me I can't answer anything.

Who is they? He doesn't answer. Is it Otani's people? He doesn't answer. I ask him if he's being paid or getting any kind of deal to say. say this, he says no, he's doing it of his own free will. Are you employed with the Dodgers? He tells me, he's not sure. Then I ask, did you lie to Shohei? Ipe says, yes. Throughout the call, I can hear a voice talking, I think to him. I can't tell if it's a man or a woman. I don't know if

it was his wife, Shohei's agent, or someone else. When I ask, are you being accused of stealing or embezzling from Shohei, Ipe en erupts. I was also told I can't comment on that part. I ask, have you told your family? He says, I don't want to talk about my family. We hang up. I call my editors. As we drop these new quotes into the story, I text Ipe with one final question. Did you take the money from Shohei's accounts without his knowledge? Ipe never responds. The Dodgers have fired the interpreter for Shohay Otani. Misuhara allegedly placed wagers with an illegal sports book in California.

Accused of racking up millions of dollars in illegal gambling debts and claims Otani had no knowledge of his gambling debts or transfers. It's certainly not the good hook now that Otani would like. A scandal now rocking the sport. So how in the world does someone just transfer four and a half million dollars of his money and he has no idea of it? Why did the story change so drastically? My sources first told me Shohei's bank account was sending money to a bookie. But then Ipe said he was the one gambling. Shohei was just helping him pay his debts.

And now it's changed again. It was all Ipe. Ipe placed the bets and somehow accessed Shohei's bank account to pay off the bookie. And Shohei knew nothing about it. Who really is Ipe? Ipe says he and Shohei

were closer than brothers, always together. And so in this moment, people were asking, is it really possible that Shohay didn't know what was going on? You know where your money's at? I know where my money's at. That's all I can say. Either Shohay was betrayed by his best friend, or he threw his best friend under the bus.

This season, on the betrayal of Shohay Otani. Everyone wants every little bit of Shohai Otani, and Ipe was part of him. Part of the show Hale Tiny deal was Ipe. I was shocked to see this person bet over 19,000 sports events. I mean, even if I wanted to, I couldn't do that many bets. I was pissed. It was definitely a manipulation from the get-go.

It painted a really shocking picture of one person abusing the trust of another person. Otani on the run. All one down and Otani has another stolen base. The betrayal of Shohei Otani is based on reporting by me, Tisha Thompson, with support from Tim Kewen and the ESPN investigative unit. Our producer is Carrie Ann Thomas. Our senior producer is Max Green. Our senior editorial producer is Pripy Varathan.

Our associate producer is Gus Navarro. Story editing by Audrey Quinn, Elaine Tang, Eric Neal and Mike Drago. Additional editing by Ritling. Rebecca Hudson. Our archival producer is Jennifer Weillock. Our line producer is Catherine Sanky. Production managers are Jason Schwartz and Sheena Williams. Backchecking by John Master Baradino with David Sabino. Additional editorial review from Masa Niwa. Original music by Alison Layton Brown and John DeLore. Sound design by John DeLore. Chris Buckle is vice president of ESPN investigative enterprise and digital journalism. Marsha Cook, Brian Lockhart, Heather Anderson,

and Burke Magnus are executive producers for 30 for 30. David Roberts, Mike Foss, and Roxanna Scott are executive producers for ESPN. In 2023, a source sent me a tip. It tied baseball's biggest star to a vast, illegal sports betting operation. But then, someone surprising confessed to me, his best friend.

I'm me, Zahara, and you did have permission to record me. From 30 for 30 podcasts, This is the betrayal of Shohei Otani. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.