Maybe Shohei Ohtani can remain almost perfect after all. Maybe the unpleasantness of the past week 鈥 the allegations that he paid off his interpreter鈥檚 gambling debts in a state where sports gambling is still illegal, with many questions unanswered 鈥 will become a distant memory. Maybe the legend will stay untarnished.
But we鈥檒l find out either way. Monday evening, Ohtani finally made a statement on the Ippei Mizuhara affair. Ohtani said he never bet on sports, never bet on baseball, didn鈥檛 know Mizuhara had stolen over $4.5 million (U.S.) to pay off a debt, and that Mizuhara lied to so many people that the fraud wasn鈥檛 discovered until the very last moment.
鈥淚 never bet on baseball or any other sports,鈥澛 Ohtani said through a new interpreter. 鈥淚 have never asked someone to do that on my behalf. I never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.鈥
鈥淚ppei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.鈥
“I never agreed to pay off the debt or make payments to the bookmaker.”
Ohtani鈥檚 version of events could not be definitive without evidence, but the story was clear enough: Mizuhara, his interpreter and friend for over a decade, lied to Ohtani. He lied to the crisis communications spokesperson Ohtani鈥檚 camp hired, who then lied to ESPN. Mizuhara then lied to ESPN during a 90-minute interview, saying Ohtani paid off the debt voluntarily. Mizuhara lied to Dodgers officials, then lied 鈥 in English, critically 鈥 to the team during a clubhouse meeting following their game against the San Diego Padres last week in Seoul, South Korea. And after the meeting Ohtani said he started asking questions, realized he had been the victim of fraud and contacted his lawyers.
There are still questions, though. How did Ohtani and his people not notice the missing $4.5 million 鈥 nine separate wire transfers of $500,000, which is not a push-a-button transaction聽鈥 even if he is a very wealthy man? How did nobody in his orbit detect Mizuhara鈥檚 fabrications? What were the banking arrangements with Mizuhara, and why? The Dodgers set up the statement like a celebrity hostage note: no cameras in the room except for one that fed MLB Network and the local Dodgers affiliate 鈥 and there were no questions allowed. Ohtani was a mystery before the statement, and remained so after.
Either way, though, Ohtani set down clear lines, and presumably we will find out. If Ohtani is telling the truth, Mizuhara should face criminal charges and evidence will be required. And if Ohtani is not telling the truth, he just put himself in a significant amount of jeopardy and made the Dodgers a partner in deception, unless somehow the Mizuhara case goes away.
And really, this statement settled nothing. Ohtani鈥檚 version would help explain the of their reporting. In that timeline, an unnamed crisis comms spokesperson tells ESPN the initial version of the story: that Mizuhara got in deep with the bookie and Ohtani, the magnanimous friend, paid off the debt for him. The spokesperson says Mizuhara told this version of events to Ohtani鈥檚 agent, Nez Balelo. And ESPN reported, 鈥淭he spokesman quotes Ohtani as saying: ‘Yeah, I sent several large payments. That’s the maximum amount I could send.’”
If Mizuhara was the greatest plate-spinning liar in the history of interpreters, then that would explain that was a lie, and why Ohtani only started asking questions once his name was mentioned several times during what was presumably a tense and serious conversation involving his team, his interpreter and the team鈥檚 president.
But then, Mizuhara鈥檚 version of events seemed plausible enough, too, didn鈥檛 it? And didn鈥檛 the biggest baseball star in the world have an agent? Or accountants? Ohtani told a story, sure, and it would be exculpatory. We still don鈥檛 have proof.
Either way, it鈥檚 a great example of how crippling a gambling addiction can be. Which should be obvious, and will getting more obvious by the day. An hour after Ohtani鈥檚 media statement, ESPN reported that 海角社区官网Raptors forward Jontay Porter was being investigated by the NBA in connection to several betting irregularities. Porter is alleged to have exited two separate games, on Jan. 26 and March 20, due to injury and illness on nights where prop bets regarding his individual statistics became the night鈥檚 highest-paying wagers on DraftKings Sportsbook.
In other words, the allegation is that he intentionally underperformed. And if there was malfeasance here, the story strikes at the heart of the relationship between pro sports and legalized gambling.
Incidentally, the NBA added live gambling odds to its League Pass streaming service last week 鈥 over-unders, point spreads and moneyline odds, but not individual prop bets, hmm 鈥 and a coach, Cleveland鈥檚 Bernie Bickerstaff Jr., revealed he had been threatened at home by sports gamblers last season. And across the continent, in Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani said he was no gambler and pointed at a scapegoat, and didn鈥檛 take questions. So questions remain.
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