Shohei Ohtani has broken his silence about the betting scandal involving his longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
Ohtani read a prepared statement to reporters Monday afternoon at Dodgers Stadium before an exhibition game against the Angels, declining to answer questions from the media.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports, or never have asked someone to do that on my behalf, and have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports,” Ohtani said through his new interpreter, Will Ireton.
Ohtani, 29, said he didn’t know until “a couple of days ago” that Mizuhara was “stealing money from my account” to place bets.
He said he didn’t know about the gambling until the Dodgers held a team meeting after their first game against the Padres last week in Seoul.
These were the first comments Ohtani has made since the murky story came out last week about Mizuhara losing millions of dollars to alleged illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, and the funds getting transferred out of Ohtani’s account to cover the debts.
The Los Angeles Times first broke the story last Wednesday, reporting that Mizuhara had been accused of stealing “millions” from Ohtani.
Mizuhara has not been charged with any crimes.
Later that same day, ESPN reported that an Ohtani spokesperson had said that the Dodgers slugger had transferred $4.5 million to Bowyer to cover Mizuhara’s debts, and made Mizuhara available to the outlet for an on-record interview.
Then, however, Ohtani’s camp “disavowed” Mizuhara’s account of what had happened.
ESPN later reported that the mixup had apparently occurred because Ohtani’s camp had been relying on Mizuhara’s version of events before realizing what had happened.
Mizuhara also worked as Ohtani’s translator during his Angels tenure, and the two had been close friends in addition to their working relationship.
“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” the West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler told The Post in a statement.
Mizuhara told ESPN that he bet on sports such as soccer and football but never baseball.
“I never bet on baseball,” he said. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule. … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
Ohtani’s camp has reportedly pushed for a criminal investigation into the matter.
Parts of Mizuhara’s past have come into question, as The Athletic reported he did not attend UC Riverside in college, as his old Angels bio said, nor did he work for the Red Sox, as previous media reports stated.
Ohtani signed a 10-year deal with the Dodgers worth $700 million this offseason, with a mind-boggling $680 million of the money deferred until after the end of the contract.
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