Shohei Ohtani Denies Any Links To Gambling In 1st Comments On Interpreter Scandal

Baseball star Shohei Ohtani said Monday that he never agreed to pay Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling debt and is “beyond shocked” at how his now-fired interpreter took advantage of him.

Ohtani, who spoke through the Los Angeles Dodgers’ performance operations manager, Will Ireton, at a news conference, said, “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”

In his 10-minute prepared statement, the athlete told reporters, “I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf, and I have never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports and was never asked to assist betting payment for anyone else.”

Ohtani claimed he first learned of Mizuhara’s gambling after the Dodgers series in Seoul, South Korea, last Wednesday, when the interpreter addressed betting allegations with players and staff during a post-game team meeting.

According to Ohtani, Mizuhara told the Dodgers clubhouse, in English, that the two-time MVP had willingly and knowingly paid off his debts.

While Ohtani did not have a trustworthy interpreter for the meeting, he told reporters he could “kind of” understand “what was going on” and knew “something was amiss.”

After confronting his ex-interpreter, Mizuhara came clean, prompting Ohtani to contact his lawyers.

Concerns about Ohtani’s links to sports betting first arose after reporters learned the baseball player’s name had come up in an investigation of Southern California bookie Mathew Bowyer.

In his Monday statement, Ohtani said it was Mizuhara who fielded initial press inquiries about the scandal, allowing him to falsely claim Ohtani had authorized the payments.

“All of this has been a complete lie,” Ohtani said. “Ippei never revealed to me that there was