Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani denied betting on baseball or any other sports during a news conference Monday, saying in his first public comments on a scandal that has dominated headlines in recent days that he had been lied to by his long-time interpreter.
"I’m saddened and shocked by the mistake made by someone I trusted,” Ohtani said in a prepared statement read quickly in Japanese at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. “I myself have never bet on anything or asked anyone to do that on my behalf, and I have never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports."
Ohtani, who did not take questions from reporters, said that his former interpreter and close associate Ippei Mizuhara, who was fired by the Dodgers last week, had kept Ohtani in the dark about media reports involving millions of dollars sent to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California.