Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani broke his silence Monday afternoon for the first time since his friend and performer Ippei Mizuhara was fired as part of a gambling investigation.
Ohtani’s lawyers say their client was the victim of a “massive theft” by Mizuhara after $4.5 million in wire transfers were withdrawn from the Japanese slugger’s account to pay off alleged gambling debts.
The star said he was “very sad and surprised” that Mizuhara would do this, adding (through an interpreter): “I never bet on baseball or any other sport and I never asked to do it on my behalf and I never visited a gambling house. bets.” ‘
“In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing money from my account and telling lies,” Ohtani said.
Shohei Ohtani says translator Ippei Mizuhara stole money from his account and lied
“I wanted to be here today so I could talk,” Ohtani began. “It has been a difficult week for the fans and team management, and I am very grateful that the media has been patient in this process.
“Just on a personal note, I am very sad and surprised that someone I trusted did this.
“Obviously, today there are things that I have limitations to be able to talk about. I hope you understand. I have a document in front of me that I will refer to that will detail what happened.
‘I never bet on baseball or any other sport, nor did I ever ask anyone to do so on my behalf, and I never went to a bookmaker to bet on sports.
‘Until a couple of days ago, I didn’t even know this was happening. Just to review the result, in conclusion, Ippei has been stealing money from my account and telling lies.
‘Last weekend in Korea, the media contacted a representative from my camp to ask about my possible involvement in these sports bets.
‘Ippei never revealed to me that there was this media investigation. Ippei told the media and my representatives that I, on behalf of a friend, paid a debt. Upon further interrogation, it was revealed that it was actually Ippei who was in debt and (he) told my representatives that I was paying those debts.
‘This whole thing has been a complete lie. So Ippei obviously lied… and basically didn’t tell me about the media investigation. Ippei has been telling everyone that he has been communicating with (Shohei) on all these accounts, with my representatives and with the team, and that has not been true.
‘The first time I knew about this game, the Ippei game, was after the first game when we had the team meeting in the clubhouse. During the meeting, Ippei was obviously speaking in English and I did not have a translator by my side. But even with that, I understood what was happening and started to feel like something was wrong.
‘Before the meeting, Ippei told me, “Hey, let’s talk one on one at the hotel after the meeting.” So I waited until then. Until that meeting I didn’t know that Ippei had a gambling addiction and was in debt. Obviously, at that time, he had never agreed to settle the debt or make payments to the bookmaker.
“And finally, when we returned to the hotel and spoke face to face, that’s when I discovered that I had a huge debt and during that meeting he revealed to me that Ippei admitted that he was sending money using my account to the betting house.
‘At the time, obviously what was happening was something absurd and I contacted my representatives at the time.
“So when I was finally able to talk to my representatives, they found out that Ippei had been lying the whole time. That’s when I started contacting the Dodgers and my lawyers. At that point, the Dodgers and my lawyers discovered that they had been lied to. My lawyers recommended that since this is theft and fraud, the proper authorities will handle this matter.
‘So in conclusion, I want to make it clear that I never bet on sports nor have I intentionally sent money to the bookmaker.
‘To sum up how I feel right now, I am beyond shocked. It’s really hard to verbalize how I feel right now. The season is going to start. Obviously I am going to let my lawyers handle matters from now on and will fully assist in all investigations that are taking place at the moment.
“I’m looking forward to focusing on the season. I’m glad we have this opportunity to talk and I’m sure the investigations will continue in the future.”
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