Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani will face the media on Monday to address the gambling controversy swirling around his friend and former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
Lawyers representing Ohtani claim that Mizuhara racked up $4.5 million in illegal gambling debts and then stole money from Ohtani to pay them off.
California remains one of 12 states where sports gambling is illegal.
Mizuhara initially admitted to placing bets on sports other than baseball but claimed he did not know the bets were illegal. Next, Mizuhara said that Ohtani wired him the money to cover the $4.5 million in gambling debts he had run up. However, Mizuhara informed ESPN last Wednesday that Ohtani did not know about the gambling debts and had not wired the money.
Other discrepancies have emerged about Mizuhara’s background. In his bio, he claims to have served as an interpreter for Hideki Okajima when he played for the Boston Red Sox in 2010 and claims to have studied at the University of California-Riverside. However, UC Riverside says he never attended their school, and the Red Sox claim Mizuhara never worked as Okajima’s interpreter while in Boston.
Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts is happy to see Ohtani address the controversy head-on.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Roberts said. “I’m happy he’s going to speak, speak to what he knows, and give his thoughts on the whole situation. I think it’ll give us a little bit more clarity.”
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