The alleged theft and gambling scandal surrounding Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara, his former interpreter and Los Angeles Dodgers employee, has been ever evolving since the news first broke one week ago.
On Monday, the new Dodgers superstar held a press conference to address the many questions that have come up related to his situation. As it stands right now, Ohtani maintains that he has never bet on baseball or any other sports and has never asked anyone to do so on his behalf.
He went on to state that Mizuhara had been stealing money from his account and told lies to the media.
Ohtani said the media reached out to one of his representatives to inquire about any potential involvement in sports betting and explained that Mizuhara never revealed this inquiry to him. While at the same time, Mizuhara spoke for Ohtani on his behalf and said that Ohtani had paid off his debts.
When the news first broke, Mizuhara gave a statement to ESPN during their conversation on March 20 in which he said that he had not purposely misinformed Ohtani, according to Tisha Thompson of ESPN:
ESPN asks if he has ever purposely misinformed Ohtani while interpreting the issues the reporter is asking about. Mizuhara says: “No, I have never done that.”
There is still a lot of work to be done to get to the truth of this situation, and that work has already begun with MLB officially launching their investigation on Saturday. The IRS is also investigating Mizuhara, which could lead to criminal charges for him.
For the meantime, Ohtani does not appear to be in any trouble, legally or from MLB, and he will remain on the active roster. He has also stated he will work with law enforcement while the investigation is ongoing.
Shohei Ohtani has the support of Dodgers teammates
A situation like this coming out of nowhere before the start of a new season has the potential to be a distraction for the Dodgers as they chase a World Series title. But that does not seem to be the case in the Dodgers’ clubhouse as Ohtani has the full support of his teammates.
Max Muncy believes that Ohtani did the right thing when he faced the public in his press conference on Monday. Muncy said he fully believes Ohatni and that his statements were the truth.
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