Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani spoke to the media Monday for the primary time since his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired following accusations that he stole greater than $4 million from Ohtani to cowl his unlawful playing money owed.
In a roughly 12-minute assertion, Ohtani denied having ever guess on sports activities and mentioned repeatedly that Mizuhara lied to him all through the method.
“I’m very saddened and shocked somebody I trusted has completed this,” Ohtani mentioned by way of an interpreter at first of his assertion. He then denied being concerned in sports activities playing in any kind.
“I by no means guess on baseball or every other sports activities or by no means have requested anyone to try this on my behalf,” he mentioned. “And I’ve by no means been by way of a bookmaker to guess on sports activities. …
“Up till a pair days in the past, I did not know that this was taking place. … In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing cash from my account and has advised lies.”
Ohtani additionally denied knowingly paying off any alleged playing money owed.
“To the representatives in my camp, Ippei advised to the media and representatives that I on behalf of a pal paid off debt,” he mentioned. “Upon additional questioning, it was revealed that it was really the truth is Ippei who was in debt and advised my representatives that I used to be paying off these money owed.
“All of this has been an entire lie.”
Ohtani additionally advised reporters that Mizuhara misled the Dodgers, telling the crew that he had been in communication with Ohtani concerning the subject when, the truth is, he had not.
Ohtani mentioned he first heard about Mizuhara’s alleged playing throughout a crew assembly after the Dodgers performed the San Diego Padres in South Korea final week.
“Up till that crew assembly, I didn’t know that Ippei had a playing dependancy and was in debt,” Ohtani mentioned. “Clearly, I by no means agreed to repay the debt or make funds to the bookmaker.”
Ohtani mentioned that after the crew assembly, he and Mizuhara had a one-on-one assembly at their resort.
“And it was revealed to me throughout that assembly, Ippei admitted he was sending cash utilizing my account to the bookmaker,” he mentioned. “And at that second, it was an absurd factor that was taking place, and I contacted my representatives at that time.”
Ohtani mentioned that he contacted the Dodgers and his legal professionals at that time and that his legal professionals advisable he contact “the correct authorities” as a result of “theft and fraud” had been in play.
“In conclusion, I do need to make it clear that I by no means guess on sports activities or have willfully despatched cash to the bookmaker,” he mentioned.
Ohtani concluded by saying that he was leaving the scenario for his legal professionals to deal with and that he was “fully aiding in all investigations.” He didn’t take questions.
This saga turned public on March 20, with a bombshell ESPN report alleging that Mizuhara, Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and pal, had been accused of a “huge theft” of Ohtani’s funds to cowl unlawful playing money owed and had been fired by the Dodgers.
ESPN spoke to Mizuhara on March 19 for 90 minutes and laid out the primary public model of the story, claiming that Ohtani paid off Mizuhara’s playing money owed by way of wire switch to assist Mizuhara make a clear break from playing.
That story did not final lengthy, although. By the tip of the day, Mizuhara had recanted the entire thing shortly after Ohtani’s attorneys at Berk Brettler LLP launched an announcement disavowing Mizuhara’s story.
“In the middle of responding to current media inquiries, we found that Shohei has been the sufferer of a large theft, and we’re turning the matter over to the authorities,” the assertion learn.
The change within the story from “Ohtani helped Mizuhara” to “Mizuhara stole from Ohtani” is tough to disregard. It is also tough to just accept the reason that Ohtani didn’t learn about wire transfers from his checking account totaling greater than $4 million.
In gentle of all this confusion, MLB introduced Friday that they’ve opened an investigation into the scenario. Since then, we have discovered much more about Mizuhara, together with obvious inaccuracies on his resume about graduating from UC Riverside and dealing for the Purple Sox and Yankees.
By means of all of this, Mizuhara has maintained that he by no means guess on baseball and that Ohtani had zero to do together with his playing.