LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani mentioned Monday he by no means wager on sports activities or knowingly paid any playing money owed collected by his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
As a substitute, the Los Angeles Dodgers star claims his shut pal lied to him for years and stole hundreds of thousands from the two-time MVP.
Ohtani gave his model of occasions throughout a information convention at Dodger Stadium, 5 days after Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers following reviews from the Los Angeles Occasions and ESPN about his alleged ties to an unlawful bookmaker and money owed properly over $1 million.
“I’m very saddened and shocked somebody whom I trusted has completed this,” the Japanese star mentioned whereas sitting subsequent to Will Ireton, the staff’s supervisor of efficiency operations, who translated.
“Ippei has been stealing cash from my account and has been telling lies,” Ohtani mentioned. “I by no means wager on sports activities or have willfully despatched cash to the bookmaker.”
Ohtani spoke for almost 12 minutes in a small room full of dozens of reporters, describing a number of methods during which Mizuhara deceived him. Sporting a Dodgers cap and sweatshirt, Ohtani learn rapidly in Japanese from a doc and didn’t take questions.
Ohtani, 29, nonetheless tried to reply crucial query by repeatedly emphasizing he was by no means knowingly concerned in playing. He supplied no particulars on how Mizuhara may need been in a position to steal his cash to pay playing money owed.
“I by no means wager on baseball or another sports activities or by no means have requested any person to do it on my behalf, and I’ve by no means gone by way of a bookmaker to wager on sports activities. and was by no means requested to help betting cost for anybody else,” Ohtani mentioned.
Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels in December to signal a document $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. Ohtani and Mizuhara had been each day companions since Ohtani joined the Angels in 2018 till final week, when Mizuhara’s playing turned public.
The IRS has confirmed that Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged unlawful bookmaker, are beneath prison investigation by way of the company’s Los Angeles subject workplace.
Mizuhara advised ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his playing money owed on the interpreter’s request, saying the bets have been on worldwide soccer, the NBA, the NFL and school soccer. MLB guidelines prohibit gamers and staff staff from wagering — even legally — on baseball, and in addition ban betting on different sports activities with unlawful or offshore bookmakers.
ESPN mentioned Mizuhara modified his story the next day, claiming Ohtani had no data of the playing money owed and had not transferred any cash to bookmakers.
“All of this has been a whole lie,” Ohtani mentioned. “Ippei clearly mainly didn’t inform me concerning the media inquiry. So Ippei has been telling everybody round that he has been speaking with me on this account to the media and my staff, and that hasn’t been true.”
Ohtani mentioned he first turned conscious of Mizuhara’s playing drawback throughout a staff assembly after final Wednesday’s season-opening victory over San Diego in Seoul, South Korea.
Ohtani mentioned the assembly was a shock — and since Mizuhara was chatting with the staff in English, Ohtani struggled to grasp all the things that was being mentioned.
“Simply previous to the assembly, I used to be advised by Ippei, ‘Hey, let’s discuss one to 1 within the resort after the assembly,’” Ohtani mentioned. “So up till that staff assembly, I didn’t know that Ippei had a playing dependancy and was in debt. Clearly I by no means agreed to pay for the debt or make funds to the bookmaker, and eventually once we went again to the resort, that was once I came upon that he had a large debt, and it was revealed to me throughout that assembly that Ippei admitted that he was sending cash utilizing my account to the bookmaker. At that second, it was an absurd factor that was taking place and I contacted my representatives at that time.”
Ohtani spoke earlier than the Dodgers’ second exhibition sport towards the Angels at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani was within the lineup, batting second because the Dodgers’ designated hitter.
The slugger received one other loud ovation from the Los Angeles crowd when he got here to the plate within the first inning towards Reid Detmers, who pitched alongside Ohtani within the Angels’ rotation for the previous two seasons. Detmers received Ohtani to floor out to 3rd.
“To summarize how I’m feeling proper now, I’m simply past shocked,” Ohtani mentioned. “It’s actually exhausting to verbalize how I’m feeling at this level. The season goes to start out, so I’m going to let my attorneys deal with issues from right here on out. I’m fully aiding in all investigations which can be going down proper now.”
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB