Shohei Ohtani has been having a fairly big season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Japanese superstar has helped the squad to notch the top spot in the NL West with 10 wins and just five losses so far. However, he still has to deal with the gambling controversy involving his previous interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. It looks like that case may have just gotten a really big update.
Shohei Ohtani has been reportedly interviewed by the feds and findings suggest that Ippei Mizuhara has been lying, per Michael Schmidt of the New York Times. The Dodgers superstar's former interpreter may have also stolen more than the initial $4.5 million that was reported. As of the moment, Ippei Mizuhara is negotiating a guilty plea while the Dodgers continue their domination in the NL West.
Apparently, the Dodgers star's former interpreter may have changed the settings on his bank account. This is such that Shohei Ohtani would not receive any notifications about the sketchy transactions that Ippei Mizuhara has been executing.
Moreover, the Dodgers game in Seoul was one of the key factors for this investigation. They were playing their NL West division rivals in the San Diego Padres when the media started to ask about the transactions. This largely came about after Ohtani signed a massive $700 million contract. But, Ohtani was not at all involved in communicating the public relations of this issue. Instead, it was the Dodgers star's agent and Mizuhara who had taken it to themselves to resolve the problem.
Mizuhara is likely to be charged in the coming days. Meanwhile, Ohtani will be cleared of any involvement due to the recent discoveries in this case.
Dodgers star speaks out
Ohtani already expressed his dismay with Mizuhara in March too.
“I am very saddened and shocked someone whom I trusted has done this. Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies. I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker. I never bet on baseball or any other sport. Or, never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf. I have never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports and was never asked to assist with betting payment for anyone else,” he declared through Will Ireton.
He even went into further detail about not being involved in resolving the media crisis due to the scandal.
“All of this has been a complete lie. Ippei obviously basically didn’t tell me about the media inquiry. So Ippei has been telling everyone around that he has been communicating with me on this account to the media and my team and that hasn’t been true,” the Dodgers superstar proclaimed.
There is a lot of work that will go into this case. For now, Ohtani can focus on improving his chemistry with the Dodgers. Less distractions are essential in their pursuit of an NL West domination and a World Series run. As of the moment, they are recuperating after a loss against the Minnesota Twins but will get the chance to bounce back against the Padres.
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