Shohei Ohtani breaks silence on interpreting scandal: “I never bet on baseball or other sports”

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani spoke to the media Monday for the first time since his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was fired following allegations that he stole more than $4 million from Ohtani to pay off his illegal gambling debts .

In a roughly 12-minute statement, Ohtani denied ever betting on sports and repeatedly said that Mizuhara had lied to him throughout the process.

“I am very sad and shocked that someone I trusted did this,” Ohtani said through an interpreter at the start of his testimony. He subsequently denied having been involved in any form of sports gambling.

“I have never bet on baseball or any other sports, nor have I ever asked anyone to do so on my behalf,” he said. “And I have never contacted a bookmaker to bet on sports. …

“I didn’t know this was happening until a few days ago. … In summary, Ippei stole money from my account and told lies.”

Ohtani also denied knowingly paying off alleged gambling debts.

“To the representatives of my camp, Ippei told the media and representatives that I paid off the debt on behalf of a friend,” he said. “Upon further questioning, it was discovered that it was actually Ippei who was in debt and told my representatives that I would pay off that debt.

“It was all a complete lie.”

Ohtani also told reporters that Mizuhara misled the Dodgers by telling the team that he had communicated with Ohtani about the issue when in reality he had not.

Ohtani said he first heard about Mizuhara's alleged gambling during a team meeting after the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres in South Korea last week.

“Until that team meeting, I didn’t know that Ippei was addicted to gambling and in debt,” Ohtani said. “Obviously I never agreed to clear the debt or make any payments to the bookmaker.”

Ohtani said that after the team meeting, he and Mizuhara had an in-person meeting at their hotel.

“And during that meeting I realized that Ippei had admitted that he had sent money to the bookmaker through my account,” he said. “And at that moment something absurd happened and I contacted my representatives at that point.”

Ohtani said that he contacted the Dodgers and his attorneys at that point and that his attorneys recommended that he contact “the appropriate authorities” because “theft and fraud” were involved.

“Finally, I would like to clarify that I have never bet on sports or intentionally sent money to the bookmaker,” he said.

Ohtani concluded by saying that he was leaving the matter to his lawyers and that he would “fully assist in any investigation.” He didn't answer any questions.

This saga was brought to public attention on March 20 with a sensational ESPN report alleging that Mizuhara, Ohtani's longtime interpreter and friend, was accused of a “massive theft” of Ohtani's funds to cover illegal gambling debts and from the Dodgers been fired.

ESPN spoke with Mizuhara for 90 minutes on March 19 and laid out the first public version of the story, in which he claimed that Ohtani paid off Mizuhara's gambling debts via wire transfer to help Mizuhara make a clean exit from gambling.

However, this story didn't last long. By the end of the day, Mizuhara had recanted the whole thing, shortly after Ohtani's lawyers at Berk Brettler LLP released a statement disavowing Mizuhara's story.

“In responding to recent media inquiries, we have discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” the statement said.

The change in the story from “Ohtani helped Mizuhara” to “Mizuhara stole Ohtani” is hard to ignore. It is also difficult to accept the explanation that Ohtani was unaware of transfers from his bank account of more than $4 million.

In light of all this confusion, MLB announced on Friday that they have opened an investigation into the situation. Since then, we've learned even more about Mizuhara, including obvious inaccuracies on his resume about his graduation from UC Riverside and his work for the Red Sox and Yankees.

Through it all, Mizuhara has maintained that he never bet on baseball and that Ohtani had nothing to do with his gambling.