A former federal prosecutor said the illegal gambling allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s former translator could potentially fall under the umbrella of money laundering, should it be revealed that Ohtani approved wire transfers to cover Ippei Mizuhara’s reported $4.5 million debt.

Ohtani’s camp originally told ESPN he had transferred funds to offset the losses before they later “disavowed” Mizuhara’s take.

Lawyers later claimed Ohtani was the victim of “massive theft.”

The IRS is investigating the alleged illegal activities, according to The Associated Press.

Neither Ohtani nor Mizuhara has been charged with a crime as of Friday morning.

“This could get Ohtani into the world of money laundering, which is a federal crime, and that’s what so striking about the way things unfolded, which is initially Ohtani was sort of in the know, and then the story changes,” Joshua A. Naftalis, who worked on the NBA’s case against former referee Tim Donaghy regarding point shaving, told “CBS Mornings” on Friday. “Often, the cover-up is worse than the crime.

“You have to wonder: How did they get the facts wrong?”

The two versions of this story are at the heart of Naftalis’ argument since there’s a massive difference between theft and covering the funds.

ESPN reported that at least $4.5 million in wire transfers had been sent from Ohtani’s bank account to an associate of Matthew Bowyer, described as a southern California bookmaker.

The outlet reported it saw “bank information” that included Ohtani’s name on a pair of $500,000 payments sent last September and October.

Gambling is illegal in California.

Lawyers representing Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani have accused his now-former interpreter and longtime friend Ippei Mizuhara of “massive theft” in a $4.5 million bombshell.

Mizuhara, who followed the two-time AL MVP from the Angels after he signed a 10-year, $700 million deal this offseason, reportedly accrued massive gambling debts he needed to pay off.

Mizuhara first told ESPN Ohtani offered to pay off the debt and later changed his story, insisting the Japanese star was unaware of the eight-nine wire transfers made from his accounts to an alleged illegal bookmaker.

Ohtani’s camp has “disavowed” Mizuhara’s initial story, per ESPN.

He was fired shortly after the Dodgers’ season opener against the Padres in Seoul, South Korea, and Ohtani has yet to publicly address the situation, though his camp is pushing for a law enforcement investigation amid an IRS probe.

“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule. … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”

All sides claim Ohtani has no involvement in any gambling.

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ESPN’s sources and Mizuhara claimed that Ohtani does not gamble, and Mizahura said he did not bet on baseball.

Mizahura originally told ESPN he asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debt.

“Obviously, he [Ohtani] wasn’t happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again,” Mizuhara told ESPN in the original interview. “He decided to pay it off for me.

“I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again.”

He then changed his story to say Ohtani did not know of his debts and had not transferred any money.

Those different versions are why Naftalis noted the potential issues.

“The amount of money that apparently was at stake, $4.5 million dollars, that’s a lot for a translator, obviously, to get underwater,” Naftalis said during Friday morning’s show. “But that’s the kind of money that a professional athlete could afford to lose.

“And the question is: Was he basically using his translator as a front?”