After days of questions and uncertainty, Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani took to the podium on Monday to address the firing of his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and the alleged ties to illegal gambling.
Speaking to reporters and taking no questions, Ohtani denied that he had ever bet on sports (baseball or otherwise), and he denied that he knowingly paid off gambling debts for Mizuhara — something Mizuhara initially claimed in an interview arranged by Ohtani’s PR team.
Instead, Ohtani echoed the accusation made by his lawyers and claimed that Mizuhara gained access to his accounts and stole upwards of $4.5 million from him.
The conflicting statements at the onset of the scandal put Ohtani in a difficult position. But fans remained baffled by the claim that Mizuhara — someone Ohtani had known and trusted for 10 years — could gain access to his finances without Ohtani’s knowledge. For that to happen, a bank also would’ve needed to approve massive wire transfers to someone under federal investigation without verifying it with Ohtani.
Ohtani hoped to make his position on the matter clear with the statement, but to fans, it obviously did not help his cause.
