Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said Monday that he never bet on sports and that his ex-interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, stole money from him.
Ohtani held a press conference at Dodger Stadium, five days after the club fired Mizuhara. This came last week when the team was in South Korea to open its season against the San Diego Padres.
This decision was taken following revelations made by the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about links between Mizuhara and an illegal book taker and allegations from Ohtani’s lawyers, the victim of a “colossal theft”, according to them.
“I’m very saddened and shocked that someone I trusted would do this,” said Ohtani, who was accompanied by Will Ireton, the team’s performance operations manager, to provide translation.
Ohtani spoke for nearly 12 minutes while reading a written statement. He did not answer questions afterward.
“Ippei stole money from my account and lied,” Ohtani said. I have never bet on sports or voluntarily sent money to a bookmaker. »
Twice named the American League’s Most Valuable Player with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani agreed to a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December.
“I have never bet on baseball or any other sport and have never asked anyone to do so on my behalf. I have never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports and I have never been asked for help to do so,” added the Japanese.
Major League Baseball has launched an investigation. The US Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, who runs an illegal betting house in Orange County, California, are under criminal investigation.
Mizuhara told ESPN that he has gambling debts totaling more than US$1 million. He initially said Ohtani paid those debts, at his request. He later changed that story, telling ESPN that Ohtani was unaware of his gambling debts and did not himself transfer funds to him to bookmen.
“This is all a complete lie,” Ohtani said. Ippei obviously didn’t tell me about the media requests. He said he was communicating on my behalf about this to the media and my team, and that wasn’t true. »
Ohtani said he first became aware of Mizuhara’s gambling problem during a team meeting after last Wednesday’s opening match.