Shohei Ohtani accuses translator Ippei Mizuhara of theft, says he 'never bet,' in first comments since gambling scandal broke

Shohei Ohtani made his first public comments Tuesday after news broke last week of a $4.5 million gambling debt with his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who was fired after Ohtani, his team and the Dodgers claimed a "massive theft."

Mizuhara had made public comments that initially claimed Ohtani paid off his $4.5 million in debt, then quickly changed those comments.

Ohtani's public statement Tuesday indicated that Mizuhara stole from him, and that he was unaware of Mizuhara's gambling addiction, or debt, until Mizuhara addressed the Dodgers after the team's first game of the Seoul Series in South Korea.

"I am very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this," Ohtani said. "I never bet on baseball or any other sports, or never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf. I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports. Up until a couple days ago, I didn't know this was happening."

"Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies."

Ohtani said that Mizuhara never revealed that media reached out to discuss the gambling situation, when Mizuhara made his initial comments.

"The first time I knew about Ippei's gambling was after the first game [in Korea] when we had a team meeting in the clubhouse," Ohtani said.

He said he "kind of understood what was going on," while Mizuhara, speaking in English, was telling this to the team, and that "something was amiss." He said Mizuhara pulled him aside before the meeting, saying he wanted to talk one-on-one in the hotel after the team meeting.

Until that meeting, Ohtani said that that he was unaware of Ippei's gambling addiction or that he was in debt. He claims he never agreed to make payments to the bookmaker. He found that out when they talked back out the hotel.

In that meeting, Ohtani said, Mizuhara revealed that he had taken money from Ohtani to send to the bookmaker. At that time, he said that he contact his representatives.

Ohtani did not address whether he gave Mizuhara his banking information, and reaffirmed he did not "willfully" give money to a bookmaker.

"I'm just beyond shocked," Ohtani said. "It's really hard to verbalize how I am feeling at this point."

Listen to Willard and Dibs react to the comments above.