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After 18 months of purchasing the script, the proposed Lionsgate Tv collection primarily based on the playing scandal involving Dodgers celebrity Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is in growth at Starz.
The venture will highlight the audacious theft by Ippei Mizuhara of $16 million from Ohtani to repay staggering playing money owed. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers after the crimes got here to gentle in March 2024. A yr later, he was convicted of defrauding Ohtani in federal court docket and sentenced to 57 months in jail.
The collection shall be produced by Tony Award winner Scott Delman, identified for “The E-book of Mormon” and “A Raisin within the Solar,” and sports activities journalist Albert Chen. Alex Convery, who wrote “Air,” is on board as showrunner and screenwriter whereas Justin Lin (the “Quick and Livid” franchise) will direct, in response to the Hollywood Reporter.
“That is Main League Baseball’s largest sports activities playing scandal since Pete Rose — and at its middle is its largest star, one which MLB has hitched its wagon on,” Chen mentioned in a press release to The Occasions. “We’ll get to the center of the story — a narrative of belief, betrayal and the trimmings of wealth and fame.”
Lionsgate was having hassle promoting the venture to firms with media rights agreements with Main League Baseball — Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, Apple, Netflix and Comcast — as a result of the businesses didn’t wish to jeopardize their relationships with the league, in response to the Hollywood Reporter. Lionsgate is the previous father or mother firm of Starz, however the two formally separated in Could.
The story unquestionably is compelling. Mizuhara befriended Ohtani in Japan when the participant who would develop into probably the most completed hitting and pitching mixture in baseball historical past was an 18-year-old rookie with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Ohtani got here to the US in 2018 at age 23, signing with the Angels. Mizuhara quickly grew to become his most trusted buddy and interpreter, serving as an middleman between Ohtani and almost everybody who spoke English, together with the media, his agent and Angels officers.
Mizuhara organized wire transfers from Ohtani’s checking account with out the participant’s data or permission and impersonated him throughout greater than two dozen telephone calls with financial institution staff, all to feed a playing behavior that accrued $40 million in losses throughout 1000’s of bets.
Mizuhara allegedly collected $142 million in winnings however misplaced about $183 million.
Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023 and the scandal got here to gentle three months later. Ohtani was absolved of wrongdoing and described as a sufferer by federal authorities.
“Ippei has been stealing cash from my account and has advised lies,” Ohtani mentioned by his new interpreter, Will Ireton, shortly after Mizuhara was arrested. “I by no means agreed to repay the debt or make funds to the bookmaker.
“I’m simply past shocked. It’s actually laborious to verbalize how I’m feeling at this level.”
Ohtani rapidly put the episode behind him, main the Dodgers to World Sequence championships in 2024 and 2025. He was named Nationwide League Most Beneficial Participant each years.
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